Sharjah Baby Friendly Office (SBFO), the entity tasked with the implementation of the Sharjah Child Friendly City project, recently organised a series of focus group sessions for children and media professionals representing UAE’s media organisations to present insights and solutions to enhance the media’s portrayal of images and vocabulary concerning children.

The sessions were organised by SBFO in collaboration with the Arab Council for Childhood and Development (ACCD), and the Gulf Area Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The focus groups were conducted by ACCD as part of its long-term project to raise ethical and professional guidelines for Arab media in handling children’s issues, in cooperation with the Arab League’s Department of Women, Family and Childhood, and the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND).

The current phase of the project will focus on gathering insights from media professionals and children in four Arab countries: Egypt, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, and Tunisia, to create a guidebook on correcting the misuse of images and vocabulary related to children in Arab media.

The focus group for media professionals was moderated by Dr. Adel Abdul Ghaffar, Professor of Communication at University of Cairo and primary expert on the preparation of the guidebook, who asked participants to give their insights about the media’s use of offensive images and vocabulary against children, and discuss the social, psychological and educational implications.

During the session, media professionals discussed the most prominent and confused child-related vocabulary often circulated in media, and the methods most used by the media to promote negative images about children.

They shared ideas and suggestions about positive vocabulary and images that can be used instead of wrong and offensive ones. Participants made suggestions for visual materials like photographs, videos, caricatures and graphics that can be used to ensure the positive portrayal of children in media.

On the other hand, around 40 children and young people participated in four focus groups, designed to gauge their opinions and views about offensive terms, concepts and images of children in media and their phycological, educational and social effects on them. The focus groups were conducted on the grounds of children’s rights to express their opinions and thoughts about issues concerning them as well as their rights to effectively participate in community activities.

The sessions showed that digital media, including social networking channels and digital games, are the most widely viewed content by children. Young participants stressed that combating bullying and violence against children are the most prominent issues that should be addressed by media.

Dr. Hessa Khalfan Al Ghazal, Executive Director of SBFO, said: “The focus groups form part of Sharjah’s ongoing efforts, as a UNICEF-recognised Child Friendly City, to ensure the highest standards of support and protection for children and safeguard their rights in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, and his wife, Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs.”

Dr. Al Ghazal commended the efforts by the ACCD, which seek to prepare a practical guide based on these focus groups, saying: “Selecting the UAE, and Sharjah in particular, as one of the destinations to host these focus group sessions, clearly signals the emirate’s awareness of child rights.”  

Eman Bahie Al Deen, Director of Childhood Media Department at ACCD, said: “These workshops support our efforts to develop an Arabic guide outlining ethical practices for media professionals and offers them the professional tools and concepts, which will help them deal with children's issues positively, especially after the increase in misrepresentation and wrongful vocabulary that violate children’s rights owing mostly to the penetration of digital and social media platforms.”

The preparation of the guidebook on correcting the misuse of images and vocabulary related to children in Arab media, is part of a the ACCD’s ‘Media Observatory for Arab Child Rights’ project. The Arab Council is implementing a methodology to prepare the guidebook by conducting a series of focus groups involving children and media professionals in four Arab countries, namely Egypt, Lebanon, the UAE and Tunisia.

Sharjah has previously hosted initiatives to promote media guidelines for children’s issues. In October 2017, the Sharjah Baby Friendly Office organised a two-day training workshop titled ‘Professional Guidelines for Arab Media in Addressing Child Rights Issues,’ which aimed to create a general framework for a joint Arab media strategy based on ethical and professional principles for media professionals.

At the conclusion of the workshop, Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of Sharjah Media Council (SMC), signed the ‘Professional Media Guidelines’ pledge in a reflection of Sharjah’s commitment to childhood and in conformity with international standards of child rights.