How children feel when journalists exploit their social media profiles
the conversation | Faith Gordon | January 4, 2016
Today’s children will feature in almost 1,000 online photographs by the time they reach the age of five. That’s according to recent research commissioned by the charity Nominet for its online safety campaign, Knowthenet.
Recent national and international media coverage illustrates how journalists have used imagery and comments accessed from children’s social media accounts. But who should have access to these images – and what are these children’s rights to them?
No real regulatory sanctions
Abstract | But it’s clear from my research that the regulatory rules are being breached, often without the child or young person’s knowledge. Since their inception over 60 years ago, there has been criticism of the regulatory bodies that oversee the media. Much of the criticism relates to the self-regulatory nature of the system as well as the ineffective sanctions and the lack of redress for injured parties.
One significant plea from children and youth organisations, such as Include Youth in Northern Ireland, Mediawise in England and internationally, UNICEF, is for children to be treated as a special case when it comes to media regulation. Children’s and young people’s advocates state that there needs to be a recognition of children’s rights and a genuine willingness to ensure that they are incorporated into the media agenda.
