What is Theme

Children rights feature prominently in global news discourse as children continue to suffer abuse in an increasingly insensitive world. The theme of the 2018 Day of the African Child “Leave No Child Behind in Development” underscored the urgency of mainstreaming children rights in development programs. Arising from the media discourse generated around this event, this chapter employs a thematic frame analytic approach to interrogate how six mainstream East African newspapers framed issues around the theme. Selected stories were content-analyzed for themes and related frames underpinning the place of children in development discourse within the region. Findings depict a media discourse recognizing children as the future of Africa yet still ‘passive' players in development occasioned by socio-economic and cultural barriers.