Section 139 (1) of the bill states that no media report of any proceedings in the Child Justice Court shall reveal the name, address, school or include any particulars calculated to lead to the identification of parties to the proceedings, or witnesses and no picture shall be published in any media report as being or including a picture of the child concerned in such proceedings.
 
According to child rights activists in the country, it is important to include a section in the bill on Child Protection that will guard against any careless reporting on child issues. The Nation newspaper quoted Maxwell Matewere, Executive Director for Eye of the Child, claiming that the media were not adhering to their own ethics when reporting child rights issues.
 
“When a child is exposed to the public, he/she is ridiculed by fellow children and the community and can withdraw from participating in society”, said Matewere adding that journalists have a duty to promote the rights of children regardless of their status or what offences they have committed.
 
Meanwhile, media bodies in the country such as MISA-Malawi and the Media Council of Malawi say they were not consulted when the bill was being drafted by the authorities, among them the Ministry of Gender, Women and Child Development. They have, however, thrown their weight behind the bill, arguing that children’s rights need to be protected.
 
Executive Director for Media Council of Malawi, Baldwin Chiyamwaka, told The Nation newspaper that the section in the bill was clear that if the media do not comply with their code of ethics, law makers would force them to do so.
 
MISA Malawi National Director Aubrey Chikungwa, while supporting the bill, appealed to the authorities to consult widely when coming up with such provisions. “It has come to our attention that journalists are left out on very important issues. We are calling on authorities to involve the media when developing policies and regulations that concern the work of the media or indeed citizens of this country in general because the media plays a very important role of informing the public. The media ought to be considered as a partner and not a means to an end”, he said.
 
The Child Care, Protection and Justice Bill has also introduced new provisions to do with the duties and responsibilities of parents and guardians; protection of children from undesirable practices and powers and procedures of child justice courts in child care and protection. //End//

Reagan Malumo
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626

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