Media coverage of child rights issues in Uganda: The case of The New Vision

Abstract

Abstract Despite having a robust child protection framework and a burgeoning media, child rights abuse still occurs in Uganda. This takes the form of child neglect, defilement, torture, trafficking. The researchers set out to investigate media coverage of child rights issues in Uganda. A triangulation of methods was used, and as will be shown later, reporting on child rights abuses is not systematic due to fragmentation of actors. The researchers found out that 185 child abuse stories were published in The New Vision in 2015. Most of the published stories were from the country’s capital – Kampala. The other obstacles to effective child rights reporting identified are as follows: concentration of reporters in urban areas, lack of special training in child rights reporting and commercial interests of media houses. The researchers recommend recruiting and training journalists to specifically report on issues of child rights and empowering upcountry reporters where many cases are committed.