This report is an analysis of the content and structure of news articles and columnsabout children that appeared in print media during the month of June 2018. Commonpractices of news production and the concerns that dominate this process limit thecoverage of children in print media and result in silencing of children’s voices withinthis limited space. In fact, this is not a conundrum caused only by media itself. Exist-ing stereotypes concerning children and childhood are reflections of a social percep-tion that regards children as “non-adult” or “incomplete individuals” who are onlysupplementary elements of adult issues. “[W]e are faced with a media which limitsits duties to regenerating the existing notions of childhood in society--due to com-mercial concerns or to ignorance, but also always due to an inability to question-andmostly causes harm instead of contributing to the public interest.”Looking at the content of news articles and columns, the context in which articlesfeaturing children are structured, the ways of producing newspaper material andsimilar discourses in these ways are important for examining the media’s rela-tionship to children’s rights. Often defined as “the fourth estate”, the media is ina position to initiate civilian oversight for informing about and raising awarenessof children’s rights, protecting these rights and providing social and physical con-ditions in accordance with these rights. Indeed, the principles of journalism onboth national and international levels emphasize the media’s role in enhancingpublic knowledge about children’s rights.
You can see the report on "Representation of Children in the Print Media of Turkey" on pages 81-128 in "Hate Speech and Discriminatory Discourse in Media 2018" report.
