Peer-reviewed article
Legal principles of preventing median violence against children
N. Lesko ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This article analyzes legal frameworks for protecting children from media violence, including exposure to violent content and cyberbullying. The authors argue that Ukrainian child protection law should ban the disclosure of confidential information about vulnerable children in media without regard to parental consent. They identify media violence as a form of psychological violence and note that cyberbullying is a growing problem in developed countries. The study recommends introducing specialized university courses on violence and media to help children critically evaluate media content.
Key points
- Media violence is defined as propaganda of violence through media that causes emotional insecurity, inability to self-protect, or mental health damage
- Cyberbullying through online harassment involving insults and intimidation is an urgent problem in developed countries including the US and Canada
- Proposed addition to Ukrainian law to ban disclosure of confidential information about children in difficult situations in media, regardless of parental consent
- Educational institutions should help children understand that media agendas and methods have only symbolic, not practical, value
- A specialized university course on 'Violence and Media Space' for journalism students is recommended as a preventive measure
Limitations
This is a legal and policy analysis rather than an empirical study, so it does not measure the effectiveness of any interventions or provide evidence of what actually works to reduce children's exposure to media violence. The document discusses cyberbullying as a phenomenon in developed countries but does not provide data on prevalence, impact, or intervention outcomes.
Abstract
Purpose. The aim of the article is to analyze the legal basis for preventing media violence against children. Method. The methodology includes a comprehensive analysis and generalization of existing scientific and theoretical material and the formulation of relevant conclusions. During the research the methods of scientific cognition were used: comparative-legal, logical-semantic, functional, system-structural, logical-normative. Results. The study recognized that it is appropriate to provide in the Law of Ukraine "On Child Protection" a ban on disclosing or publishing in the media confidential information about children in difficult life situations, if the dissemination of such information could harm the child, regardless of parental consent or other legal representatives of the child. Media violence is a form of psychological violence that involves propaganda of violence through the media if it causes emotional insecurity, inability to protect oneself, or mental health damage. The main feature of the modern information society is the recognition of the priority of information as one of the results of human activity. Most of the time behind a computer, modern man can no longer imagine his existence without it, which often leads to the formation of computer addiction. In addition, one of the urgent problems that arose in the era of information technology is the problem of cyberbullying - harassment of the Internet, through messages containing insults, intimidation. Such harassment can be applied to both adults and children. Currently, the phenomenon of cyberbullying is actively manifested in many developed foreign countries, such as the United States, Canada, the European Union and other countries, where public authorities are forced to pay more and more attention to this issue. It is almost impossible to eliminate violence in the media, as they shape their agenda based on the interest of the viewer. And, unfortunately, violence is one that attracts the attention of broad sections of the population. Therefore, educational institutions should help children to form the idea that the agenda, the methods of activity imposed by the media, have value only in the symbolic and not in the practical world. Scientific novelty. In the course of the research it was established that an important measure to prevent and counteract violence in the media may be the introduction of a special course "Violence and Media Space" in the curricula for the specialty 061 "Journalism". Practical significance. The applied value of the study is determined by the fact that the scientific results provide a basis for improving legislation in the field of prevention of media violence against children.