
Oppose child abuse in media


We strongly oppose the feature on teenagers being raped for the purposes of child pornography production in the Daily voice, 9th of March, pages 1, 6, 7, entitled \'Cape\'s Child Porn Ring: Schoolgirls, 14, are RAPED on camera\'. We believe that this article does not live up to standards of ethical journalistic practice in that: * the story identifies children who are being abused; * Only a token gesture is made to protect children\'s identities. The black strips hide only the girls\' eye colour and nothing else; * The images and details provided are used to titillate and further sexualise the children who are being assaulted; * No evidence is provided that informed consent was received from the children who were interviewed; * Not only does the story glamorise child abuse, but in reporting it in this way the Daily Voice perpetuates child abuse. In light of the debate on the film and publications bill, such coverage threatens freedom of the media for all South Africans.
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