Children are a trust and a gift from God Almighty, with inherent dignity and worth as fully human beings, and therefore have the right to protection. Moreover, children are the next generation of the nation who must be safeguarded from negative media coverage so they can grow properly, live in a conducive environment, develop both physically and mentally, and reach healthy adulthood, all for the best interests of the child.
In observing media coverage related to children in the country, children often become victims, objects of exploitation, and their identities—including faces, initials, names, addresses, and schools—are disclosed either intentionally or unintentionally, resulting in insufficient protection. The language used in news coverage concerning children is sometimes harsh and vulgar. Broadcast media also often display the image of a child, masked with a disguise or blurred, but with identifying features still recognizable.
Indonesia has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and enacted laws to protect children’s rights, particularly Law No. 23 of 2002 on Child Protection, as amended by Law No. 35 of 2014 on Amendments to Law No. 23 of 2002 on Child Protection.
However, there are differences in the age limits for child protection across various regulations, including the Criminal Code (16 years), the Journalistic Code of Ethics (16 years), the Child Protection Law (18 years), the Juvenile Justice System Law (18 years), the Human Trafficking Law (21 years), and the Population Administration Law (17 years).
Therefore, the Indonesian press community, consisting of journalists, media companies, and press organizations, has agreed to establish a Child-Friendly Journalism Guidelines to serve as a guide in journalistic activities. Indonesian journalists recognize that news about children must be managed wisely and not exploitatively, especially when covering events that the public needs to know.
The purpose of Child-Friendly Journalism is to encourage the press community to produce news with a positive tone, empathy, and with the aim of protecting the rights, dignity, and worth of children—whether involved in legal issues or not, whether as perpetrators, witnesses, or victims.
The agreed-upon Child-Friendly Journalism Guidelines define a child as anyone under the age of 18, whether living or deceased, married or unmarried.
The identity of a child that must be protected includes all data and information that could make it easy for others to identify the child, such as name, photo, image, names of siblings, parents, uncles/aunts, grandparents, and should not include supporting details such as home address, village address, school, clubs or organizations attended, and any specific objects identifying the child.
The detailed Child-Friendly Journalism Guidelines are as follows:
- Journalists must keep the identity of children confidential when reporting information about a child, especially if the child is suspected, accused, or convicted of legal violations or crimes.
- Journalists must report factually with positive language, empathy, and/or avoid descriptions or reconstructions of events that are sexual or sadistic in nature.
- Journalists should not seek or explore information beyond the child’s capacity to answer, such as matters concerning death, divorce, parental infidelity, family issues, violence, crimes, conflicts, or disasters that may have traumatic effects.
- Journalists may use visuals to supplement information about a child’s involvement in legal matters but must avoid broadcasting visuals or audio that reveal the child’s identity or associate them with their identity.
- When producing positive news about a child’s achievements or success, journalists should consider the psychological impact on the child and the negative effects of excessive reporting.
- Journalists should not seek or report the identity of children under the protection of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).
- Journalists should not interview child witnesses in cases where the criminal perpetrators have not been apprehended or detained.
- Journalists should avoid disclosing the identity of sexual offenders in a way that reveals familial relationships between the victim and perpetrator. If such information has been reported, journalists must immediately stop further disclosure of the child’s identity. For online media, any published content disclosing a child’s identity must be edited to protect it.
- In cases of missing children or child hostages, the child’s identity may be disclosed. However, if the child’s whereabouts are later confirmed, their identity should no longer be published, and prior reports should be removed.
- Journalists should not report the identity of children involved in political activities or those related to issues involving ethnicity, religion, race, and inter-group relations (SARA).
- Journalists should not report about children using materials (video, photo, status, or audio) exclusively from social media.
- In the case of juvenile justice proceedings, journalists must respect the provisions of the Juvenile Justice System Law.
- Any disputes regarding the implementation of these guidelines will be resolved by the Press Council, in accordance with Law No. 40 of 1999 on the Press and the applicable regulations of the Press Council.
Jakarta, February 9, 2019