MMP and SAfm present radio conference on the media and child abuse - Media and Minors

On 27 November and 4 December, SAfm, in conjunction with the Media Monitoring Project (MMP), several other NGOs and Government, broadcast South Africa's first live conference on radio, on the topic of Media and Minors -- how children are perceived by all the media and particularly how the more sensitive and contentious issues are handled. Jeremy Maggs facilitated these discussions.

A full transcript of these broadcasts follows, as prepared by Judith King of HIVAN's Communications, Arts and Advocacy Unit.

JM: This focus is the brainchild of the Media Monitoring Project, and my thanks to the Director, William Bird, for the idea and for putting it together; he will participate in the panel discussion. I?’m going to suggest that we won?’t get any definitive answers this morning, but what we?’re going to try and do is to put an international and African perspective on the subject, and maybe at least further the debate.

Underpinning the whole idea is the role of the media ?– that?’s important. How do we perform? How do we make the subject more compelling, and give it a voice as well, 365 days a year? Remember that an issue like this is competing with many other social issues, particularly in this country, in a developing country like ours.

CG:My first statement is to say that we?’re here because of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, and the whole point of this is to raise awareness and ?“conscientise?” people about the issues around abuse and violence, and then to give them constructive alternatives. Very often we are the victims of stereotypes, and are not even aware of them, and once highlighted, behaviour changes happens more easily. Quite clearly, the way children and women are shown and highlighted in the press will play into those stereotypes, or explode them and offer alternatives. And sometimes with issues about violence, you see graphic, shocking stories that don?’t take the reader any further ?– they don?’t show them how to imagine a South Africa where there is not this kind of violence ?–and how to act against it in your own personal environment at home, at work, in schools and in our communities. I do believe that sometimes, shocking messages take people to a space and then they realise how bad it is; but the media are critical in breaking down the stereotypes that surround women in terms of their inequality and low status ?– and the same applies to children. If they [the media] did more substantive coverage, perhaps showing a very serious story of wife or child abuse and showed the public what happens afterwards, a single case in the context of a society that is battling to internalise the values of our new, transformed South Africa.

JM:Cheryl, thank you very much indeed. I know that you have to be gone at around 10h30 so I?’m going to ask you stay on the line for as long as you possibly can. Our next speaker is Professor Jenny Kizinger, School of Journalism, Cultural and Media Studies at Cardiff University ?… thank you very much for joining us today ?… you?’ve been listening in to our Deputy Minister raising some interesting points about stereotypes, shock messaging and that perhaps more substantive coverage needs to be given to this particular issue. From your perspective, a few minutes on your context?

JK:Well, I?’d certainly agree with a lot of the issues that she?’s raised; the mass media have a really crucial role to play in changing all forms of abuse and particularly the sexual and physical abuse within the family, where that?’s often hidden by taboo and secrecy. My research has looked at the very positive role that the media can play in breaking the silence, but also some of the problems in the way the media represent this issue.

If we look at the European context, there?’ve been huge changes over the last 20 or 30 years. Thirty years ago, mention of childhood sexual abuse, particularly things like incest, really were taboo; there?’s a lot of stigma associated with being abused in that way, and there were stereotypes like the little ?“Lolita?” child who perhaps seduces the grown-up. That really changed in the mid-1980s and we suddenly found a lot of news coverage, discussion shows, films and, very importantly, TV drama, taking on the reality of abuse.

What my research over the last 20 years has shown is that this has been crucial: it?’s allowed children to confront what was happening to them, it wasn?’t just ?“Daddy?’s secret?” anymore. It supported children and adults in seeking help and it has been able to interrupt ongoing abuse, so that the teacher who is now onto his third generation of victims, or the father who is now abusing not only his daughter but has moved on to his grandchildren, have been confronted about this behaviour. In that sense, the media have really helped create social transformation. At the same time, there are a lot of problems ?… do you want me to go on to those a bit?

JM: Certainly, please do so.

JK:I think what we?’ve seen in the European context is four major problem areas ?– in the representation of children, in the representation of the families, in child protection agencies being made scapegoats, and then perhaps above all ?– very problematic misrepresentations of sexual predators. If I just run through those and we think first about the representation of children, there is still the problem of victim-blaming, particularly those who were abused through prostitution ?– and I?’m using that phrase very deliberately ?– because when you talk about child prostitutes, one sometimes frames the children more as delinquents than as victims, and we really have to challenge that. A lot of the reporting is still very voyeuristic and exploitative, and you also have this problem of the concept of ?“childhood innocence?” which gets mobilised a lot when we talk about child sexual abuse and say ?“this is robbing children of their innocence?…?” ?– that?’s a double-edged sword, because it means that the child who has been raped or sexually abused can end up being seen as damaged goods, and you?’re undermining that child?’s sense of himself or herself.

The full transcript can be downloaded on the righthand side of this page. For more information on the Radio Conference, please see the righthand side of this page. For more information on SAfm and the Media Monitoring Project, please visit their websites via the hyperlinks on the righthand side of this page