The MMP and Wits are running a course for again in 2008 on children and the media.  Previously, MMP partnered the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism to conduct the course.  Read how it went.  

With each child’s voice that is heard in the media, there is a strong possibility that not only that child will become a reader or viewer, but also that that child’s parents, caregivers, friends and relations will also become readers or viewers.

Participating journalists will:

• Receive specialised knowledge and skills on children, ethics, and the law;
• Learn new skills for interviewing children;
• Be encouraged to produce even better, more diverse and interesting pieces of work;
• Have the opportunity to receive clear and direct feedback from children on the stories you, and your media have produced;
• Have access to ongoing support before and after the CMMP with regard to reporting on children;
• Contribute to the improvement of the overall quality and standard of journalism in South Africa;
• Have access to well informed children to contribute to improved reporting on children;
• Form part of a flowing community of ‘child-friendly’ journalists;
• Participate in a specialist training course and be provided with a mentoring resource kit;
• Receive expert guidance and input to commonly encountered problems in reporting on children;

Participating newsrooms and editors will:

• Through the CMMP, receive an additional skilled perspective to newsrooms, which will introduce new and different angles to stories;
• With the help and guidance of the MMP, be enabled to devise new and innovative solutions to current difficulties experienced in the coverage of children in the media;
• Improve news content on children’s reporting;
• Allow for interaction between journalists and reference groups of children during the newsroom visits;
• Provide opportunities to simply and effectively include children’s participation, encourage diversity, and protect and uplift children’s rights.