Need to adopt child-focused approach in Media: Sandhya Krishnan, Save the Children

Save the Children, a leading independent child rights organization that works in India and in over 120 countries around the world, organized a Media Sensitization Workshop - Reporting on Children(Scope and Responsibilities) today at Indian Medical Association Auditorium, Pune. This workshop led to a healthy discussion on how we media could and should report on children’s issues. Focused attention on child rights, it was agreed, could maximize the strength of each stakeholders (NGOs, Media, Academics, Government, Lawyers and the public) for the benefit of children.

Over a period of time, media has been instrumental in highlighting issues of the most vulnerable section of our society -- ‘Children’-- to the larger audience, who can bring about positive change to improve their lives.

Child Right practitioners; Ms. Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe, Founder-Director, Pune CHILDLINE and Advocate Supriya Kothari, Dr. Yamini Abdewere the eminent guest speakers at the event.

Two set of panelists: senior reporters and editors; Mr. Keshav Sathaye, Mr. Arun Kore, Ms. Pratibha Chandran, Mr Yogesh Sadhwani, Mr Vaibhav Sonwane, Mr. Arun Maitre and practitioners shared their experiences on how media can play a vital role in creating awareness on various issues faced by children and what are the existing system available for protection of children for the children who are in need.

Sandhya Krishnan, State Program Manager, Save the Children, observed, “We need support from the media in terms of highlighting the issues faced by the children. Sensitive media reporting will create awareness among relevant audiences and that will make go a long way in improving the child rights situation across education, health and protection.”

NGOs working for children and also the police report the maximum number of cases to the Child Welfare Committee or Juvenile Justice Board. Many cases of children who are in need of protection are not reported by people -- as they do not know what to do with the children that they find in distress or they are not aware of the fact the children need protection in the first place.Media being a powerful medium of communication can encourage people to report cases of children in need of help to the existing system available for the child protection.

The bill for the amendments of the CLPRA and JJ Act is being discussed now in the country. With Make in India campaign of the Government of India and changing the age for conviction for children under JJ Act, media also can play a big role by sensitizing people about these legislative developments and its repercussions.