Media practitioners in the country have been urged to abide by ethical standards towards promotion of child rights.
UNICEF Country Representative Rudolf Schwenk said this in Lilongwe during launch of Child Rights Reporting Guidelines which have been developed by the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) with financial support from the Fund.
He said: “It’s highly relevant that we have ethical and responsible and positive reporting on child rights, and you as journalists you have to highlight the issues that affect children and we have to do this in a very responsible manner.”
According to Schwenk, positive and responsible reporting on child rights play a critical role in promoting their rights.
He noted: “They have to be policies and practices in place to make sure that child protection is upheld, we have to make sure that child rights are protected.”
MIJ acting executive director Mercy Manja said the institution anticipates that journalists in the country will embrace the unveiled guidelines towards protection and promotion child rights.
She said: “We have higher expectations as MIJ, you know these guidelines on child rights reporting have been long overdue, you know anyone has been reporting the way he or she feels but now these guidelines are going to act as ethical standards.
“So our expectation is that each and every media house, communicator and journalist should embrace these guidelines and integrate them in their day-to-day work.”
UNICEF Malawi has partnered with Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) to strengthen the capacity of journalists on child rights reporting.
Whilst commending MIJ for coming up with the guidelines, Minister of Information Gospel Kazako has called upon media practitioners to execute their mandate professionally and responsibly in the course of serving the public.
“The most important profession is journalism, those of us who are journalists must feel proud, so it is very important also that we have journalists who are of a very good quality, we want journalists that are solid, professional, ethical and know their responsibility,” urged Kazako.
The main goal of the partnership UNICEF Malawi – MIJ partnership is to see well-trained journalists producing high quality media products (news stories and programmes) that promote awareness and protection of child rights for the well being of all children in Malawi.
