Guwahati, Oct 11: The role of the media is to act as a watchdog of the public interest and of the government. It highlights the social issues and the aspects that prevail in society.
In contemporary times, social issues such as poverty, prostitution, human trafficking, sexual abuse, substance abuse, child labor, etc. are considered to be of major concern as they violate basic human rights and the most vulnerable, which are children, fall prey to such issues.
According to reports, the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (ASCPCR) reported 98 complaints involving violations of child rights, with the largest number of 37 cases involving violations of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in 2021.
As per the ASCPCR data, the other cases involved violations of child rights (4 cases), child labour (7 cases), corporal punishment (2 cases), child marriage (6 cases), children in need of care and protection (20 cases), deprivation of the right to education (5 cases), child trafficking/missing/abduction/kidnapping (6 cases), and others such as murder/suicide (11 cases ) in the year 2021.
The following data issued by the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights are the registered cases against issues related to children, which is not only confined to the data, and there are a thousand more cases that occur every day that are shunned away and go unnoticed by the media.
In Miguel Das Queah's observation, an Assam-based child rights activist and founder of NGO 'Utsah', he finds certain omissions in media coverage and reporting on issues affecting children missing and believes that it is time that the media should seriously look into it.
According to the activist, the media in Assam, in particular, needs more training in ethical media reporting guidelines prepared by UNICEF or the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights that they are required to abide by when it comes to reporting and filing of news stories related to children.
Most news platforms or media houses end up violating the norms regulated by the ministry and authorities, which ultimately amounts to unethical reporting.
Another important aspect that he touched upon is the fact that fewer follow-up stories are covered on crimes related to children, which the activists believe that the media should constantly keep a check on the issues they have reported.
Also, over the years, it has been identified that there has been a substantially lower amount of coverage of human interest stories related to children, which should be widely discussed and frequently published so as to increase awareness, Das said.
One of the key repercussions of the mentioned problems is a lack of media literacy in the state, which has also been observed in the instances of many national media outlets. As a result, it is important to impart education to reporters and journalists on the intricacies of reporting on child-related issues so that the media can become one of the aspects that might lead to a solution to these vital societal concerns.
Apart from this, the media also works to disseminate education and convey relevant information about the societal framework to the masses to curb existing problems.
For the media to educate the masses about children's rights, it is important to set up various communication techniques through which the information can be disseminated.
This can be implemented through special television programs on news channels, radio talk shows, newspaper stories and articles, audio-visual stories on new media on sensitisation about child rights and protection, child sexual and drug abuse, child marriage and labour, human trafficking, and many more, which can work to bring a change by publicizing important social issues and drawing users' attention through them.
Entertainment Education like films can also be a great source of communication to reach out to the masses in order to propagate the idea related to such a matter.
Media is an effective and powerful tool to mould society's outlook, and thus, when it comes to the safeguard of the nation's future, it is essential to both gatekeep facts related to child rights protection as well as keep the masses aware of the same.