Press Council answers Education Ministry’s request

The mass media representatives must ask for the agreement of the parents and tutors, or the teachers in some cases, when they intend to interview a child in the context of situations with negative connotation. The journalists are also obliged to blur the face of the children who appear in pictures in such cases. These are some of the recommendations formulated by the Press Council on December 19 following a request made by the Ministry of Education, Info-Prim Neo reports. The Ministry of Education asked the Press Council to pronounce on the correctness of the way a number of TV channels covered the alleged case of rape of a student from Hancesti town in October. After analyzing the materials presented by the Ministry, the Council established that most of the TV channels provided details that enable to identify the child-victim, this being a violation of the Journalist’s Deontological Code. Press Council head Ludmila Andronic said the Council repeatedly recommends the media outlets to avoid using data that allow or facilitate the identification of children who are victims of abuse or other negative situations. The journalists are recommended not to reveal the name of the education institution and grade of the child, the name and, especially, the picture of the child. In positive reports, the journalists can decide by themselves whether to blur the face or not. The mass media is encouraged to cover more positive events involving children. The Press Council advised the Ministry of Education to work out instructions and to formulate recommendations for teachers about the communication with journalists who report cases of abuse against children so that the messages sent by the mass media are correct and do not cause additional suffering to the victims.