Abstract
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.
TopSpecific Objectives Of The Chapter
- 1.
To analyse how the mainstream East African print media portrays children as players in development
- 2.
To identify prominent themes and frames in the newspaper discourse on mainstreaming children in development
- 3.
To analyse how the East African print media frames solutions towards mainstreaming of children rights in development
Key Terms in this Chapter
Convention: An agreement between states on expected ways of behaving or treating an issue affecting the society.
Children's Rights: The freedoms and entitlements of children in a society.
Framing: The essence of a news story as relates to values or angles used in telling it.
Human Interest: Depicting a feeling or experience with which people can relate their own lives.
Theme: The central or main idea or essence in a text, like a story.
Content Analysis: A research method that aids in discovering certain attributes of a story text like themes.
Mainstreaming: Integrating an issue on the agenda to become part and parcel of life of an entity.
Duty Bearer: Actors obliged to advocate, promote, defend, and realize a specific duty to the society.
News Source: The person or organization to whom a quote or paraphrase in a news story is attributed.