Five months after its public review process of the Press Code, the Press Council has added an extra section on the protection of children when reporting on issues concerning them.
As part of the review process, Media Monitoring Africa made a submission to the Press Council requesting that the pre-existing child section be extended.
Previously, the only mention of children related to pornography.
The new section on children in the media states that "exceptional care and consideration" must be adhered to when reporting on children younger than 18 years old and that a child cannot be photographed without permission from a parent or guardian.
The identification of children who have been victims of abuse or exploitation, or if a child has been convicted of a crime, is also prohibited, according to the code.
Micheaela Lekay, 13, one of the children who made a submission, said: "We constructively criticised (newspapers) and added a few suggestions as we found that we didn't like the way children were shown in the media."
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