NOVEMBER 28 — The Women’s Centre for Change, Penang (WCC) welcomes the recent decision by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to prosecute a news producer who allegedly broadcast a charge sheet leading to the identification of a child victim in a rape case two years ago. This has the potential to be a landmark case, as this is the first instance where the media have been charged for breaching a child’s right to privacy in Malaysia.

Our country has recognised that children require special protection from violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. The Child Act 2001 and the Evidence of Child Witnesses Act 2007 make it a criminal offence to reveal the name, address, educational institute or particulars that could possibly lead to the identification of any child involved in a criminal matter. While news agencies play a crucial role in reporting news to their readers, they also bear the responsibility to protect the interests and privacy of children, who are vulnerable and need protection.

The breach of a child’s privacy is a serious crime that can have a great impact on the child’s emotional and mental wellbeing. In working with child victims of sexual crimes, WCC has seen firsthand the impact irresponsible journalism can have on children. A teenage girl whose privacy had been breached told WCC that “saya bertambah malu apabila kes ini keluar di surat khabar, TV dan Internet kerana kawan-kawan saya mengetahui hal tersebut... saya tidak mampu fokus untuk SPM, berasa tidak semangat dan putus asa untuk hidup (I became increasingly ashamed when the case was reported in the newspapers, TV and Internet because my friends found out what had happened to me... I could not focus on the SPM examinations, felt hopeless and have no will to live)”. Her experience was a highly distressing one, and could have been prevented had the news been reported in an ethical manner.

In order to gauge the prevalence of child identification in sexual crimes reporting in mainstream and online media, WCC conducted a four-month survey in 2014 on 10 major news publications of various languages. From the 382 news articles surveyed, WCC concluded that 15 per cent of them contained information that could either directly identify or very possibly lead to the identification of the child reported.

Among the most common determinants found in those articles were the ages of the child and the perpetrator, the localities of the victim and perpetrator, and the perpetrator’s picture and name.

While taken in isolation, this might not be enough to identify the child involved in the sexual crime, yet when taken collectively and if known to anyone in the same community as the child, they present enough information to be in breach of child privacy laws.

WCC strongly believes that editors and journalists hold in their hands the power to reject sensationalism and protect the privacy of our children. Through the practice of ethical and objective journalism, they can raise public awareness on the plight suffered by child victims of sexual crimes without compromising their right to privacy.

* Joshua Teh Honguan is Advocacy Officer of the Women’s Centre for Change, Penang.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.