Journalists schooled on ethical reporting on children

Journalists in the Upper West Region have been schooled on how to report ethically about children without further exposing them to any danger or harm.

This is necessary because journalists in their quest to report the issues on children sometimes consciously or unconsciously end up violating their professional ethics and the rights of the child involved in the reportage by further exposing the victims to even greater danger than before.

Madam Offeibea Baddoo, Communication Officer for the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), organizers of the Upper West Regional Media Meeting, urged journalists to analyze every issue being reported and ensure that only what was in the interest of the child was reported and while avoiding what would further aggravate their plight.

She also appealed to the media to always report on children issues with an equity lens, saying that would bring about equity for every child in the region no matter his/her geographical location.

Madam Baddoo also reminded the journalists that equity based reportage would ensure the allocation of resources to where it was most needed to help provide opportunities for children in those areas.

The UNICEF Communication Officer also appealed to the media in the Upper West Region to prioritize children issues by reporting more on all the issues affecting the general development of children in the region such that they would be given the needed attention by the authorities.

Madam Evelyn Ngaanuma, UNICEF Knowledge Management Officer at the Tamale Office, said the Upper West Region still has high poverty rate coupled with access to potable water challenges and poor nutrition, adding that in the midst of such development gaps women and children often suffer the most.

She appealed to the media to highlight such development gaps by pointing out their impact on the general development of children so that they could achieve equity for all children in the country.

The participants thanked UNICEF for the sensitization meeting and pledged to focus more on unearthing the problems hindering children’s development in the region and push for equity in the distribution of resources such that such children could also be brought up to an appreciable level of development.