Peer-reviewed article
On the frontline: child well-being and role of the Zimbabwean mass media in awareness creation
Muchanyerei Babbot ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This article examines how Zimbabwean mass media—both public and private—cover child protection issues and shape public awareness of child rights. The author argues that traditional media (press, radio, television) are vital sources of information for promoting child protection but often fail to report on children's issues responsibly and sensitively. The article calls on media professionals to improve how they cover children's issues in their reporting.
Key points
- Traditional mass media are extremely important sources of information for the public regarding child protection issues
- Informed, sensitive and professional media coverage plays a critical role in shaping public opinion on child rights and well-being
- Zimbabwean media are sometimes found wanting in their coverage of children's issues
- Media often fail to report on child protection issues responsibly and sensitively
- Media professionals need to re-examine and improve their coverage of children's issues in print and broadcast media
Limitations
The document does not provide specific examples of media failures, quantitative data on coverage patterns, or evidence of how media coverage actually affects child outcomes or public awareness. It is a conceptual analysis rather than an empirical study.
Abstract
Child rights' promotion and protection remain paramount and an integral component of democracy in any nation.As such, traditional mass media-the press, radio and television-continue to be an extremely important source of information for many people regarding child protection issues, providing news and analyses about events around the globe.Thus, informed, sensitive and professional mass media play a critical role in shaping public opinion on and propagation of child rights and well-being.This article analyses the role of the Zimbabwean mass media-public and private-on issues of child protection in the country.It further observes that the media are sometimes found wanting with regards to children's issues by failing to report responsibly and sensitively.It also encourages media professionals to re-examine and improve the way children's issues are covered in print and broadcast media.