Media encouraged to focus on children's issues

The call was made by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) at a workshop attended by various stakeholders in the industry.

MISA's information and research officer, Mpho Motlhabani said a study carried out last year revealed that the media is doing little to report on cases of child abuse or where the safety and welfare of children are compromised.  "You find that even if a child's rights are violated in an incident, the angle of the story will be diverted from the child to the celebrity or the powerful person involved," he said.   Motlhabani claims that this kind of reporting does not fully expose the gross abuse and violations that children experience.