High Sound for Children, an organization that advocates for safe media for children has released a new report examining how three of Uganda’s leading newspapers — New Vision, Daily Monitor, and Bukedde — cover children’s issues.
The findings show that while children make up a significant portion of Uganda’s population, they receive relatively little consistent media attention in daily reporting. Where coverage does exist, child protection safeguards are not always observed.
The study highlights that children’s stories are often placed in less prominent sections, and there is limited variety in how children are represented. In many cases, coverage focuses on children affected by tragedy or conflict, with few stories highlighting their resilience, achievements, or voices.
While the media plays an important role in shaping public opinion and influencing policy, the report suggests there is a missed opportunity to tell more balanced stories about children and to ensure that reporting upholds basic protection standards—especially in sensitive cases.
Key Observations:
- Children’s issues are rarely given prominent placement or dedicated space in the dailies reviewed.
- Most stories focus on children as victims, with limited inclusion of their own perspectives.
- Child protection measures, such as anonymizing identities in sensitive stories, are inconsistently applied.
Recommendations:
To improve how children are covered and protected in the media, the report suggests:
- Strengthening Media Capacity:
Organize regular training sessions for journalists and editors to build awareness of child-sensitive reporting practices. - Ethical Reporting Guidelines:
Develop and adopt clear, enforceable guidelines to ensure ethical and protective reporting on children’s issues. - Dedicated Coverage:
Encourage newspapers to allocate more space to children, giving visibility to their experiences and contributions. - Collaborative Media Literacy Efforts:
Partner with caregivers, policy makers, government, and communities to promote child protection through media literacy and dialogue.
High Sound for Children (HSC) executive director, Hadijah Mwanje noted that the finding mirror what is happening in the society with many issues of children not prioritized.
HSC is a not for profit organization on a mission to protect Children from exposure to inappropriate content by promoting safe offline and online environments through a multisectoral approach with the belief that every child has the right to be shielded from harm.