Newspapers Ignore Rights of the Child

"Coming home" was the headline in Sabah newspaper, showing two children hugging their mother, none of the faces shown in the photograph were concealed.

Also Milliyet, Birgün, Vatan, Taraf and Günlük newspapers violated ethic principles and breached the law with their reports on children who were released from prison due to the latest amendments of the Anti-Terror Law (TMK). These six nationwide dailies made the children victims once more by publishing their photographs.

Their reports also contained discriminatory and stigmatizing expressions. The papers emphasized the children's statement that they "had no regret" and stigmatized the children. Milliyet newspaper for instance put forth the question whether the children "learned their lesson". The children's reply "We do not regret it" was turned into a headline that could be misleading when seen out of context. Günlük newspaper not only published the photographs of the children but also wrote their full names and moreover pointed to their ethnic origin.

Interests of children should be considered

It is quite obvious that the editorial managers and editors who prepared the news did not take into consideration the problems the children are going to encounter in their further lives due to this news. Yet, the ethical principles of journalism are based on the fundament of the "limitation of damage".

The guidelines of the International Federation of Journalists say, that "the possible harm caused by all sorts of material published related to children must be reduced to the minimum". The guidelines of the Children Rights Information Network (CRIN) recommend, "Do no harm to any child; avoid questions, attitudes or comments that are judgmental, insensitive to cultural values, that place a child in danger or expose a child to humiliation, or that reactivate a child's pain and grief from traumatic events".

Publications oppose Convention on the Rights of the Child

Pointing to the ethnic origin of children in the news is contrary to the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as granted in Article 90 of the Turkish Constitution on the Ratification of International Treaties. Turkey, as part of the Convention, pledges that "children under this jurisdiction shall not be discriminated on the grounds of race, colour, gender, language, political or other thought and national, ethnic and social origin. Also newspapers are supposed to abide by these regulations.

Showing pictures is forbidden

Article 21 of the Press Law stipulates, "In periodicals, persons who disclose the identities of victims or perpetrators of crimes under the age of 18 shall be sentenced to pay a major fine".

The ethic rules of the Turkish Journalists Association state, "Names and photographs of children under the age of 18 shall not be published, regardless of the child's being a defendant, a witness or a victim (killed)". (SP/VK)