On 26 June, Malaysiakini together with UNICEF Malaysia, Australian High Commission of Kuala Lumpur (AHCKL) and Malaysian Media Council (MMC) held a media training on ‘Children’s Digital Rights’ at WORQ Well in KL Eco City, Kuala Lumpur.
This training aimed to strengthen journalists’ understanding of children’s rights in the digital environment, and to equip them with practical tools to report on these issues accurately, ethically, and responsibly.
Attended by 32 participants, the opening speech was given by Louisa Richey, Acting Deputy High Commissioner of AHCKL, marking the start of the training. She conveyed her gratitude for being part of an important and timely topic.
After a quick icebreaker and brief introductions, the first session ‘Media and Children’ was conducted by Rachel Choong, Communications Officer of UNICEF Malaysia.
She held an informative session about the media’s role in raising awareness and action on children’s issues, but also their responsibilities in ensuring reporting and representation is ethical. Choong went through ethical reporting guidelines by UNICEF and key principles for responsible reporting on children and young people.
Yap Si Err, a Malaysiakini reporter researching on the topic of children’s digital rights shared the research project she is spearheading. It was an eye-opening session as Yap shared her investigative methodology when reporting on child sexual abuse material (CSAM), her findings on the matter, and her experience in navigating regulatory bodies and social media platforms.
Speaking further on children’s digital rights was Child Protection Officer of UNICEF Malaysia, Fan Kar Joon. He discussed the misconceptions of children being online and how countries are responding to this issue.
Two breakout discussions were facilitated by Tham Seen Hau, Malaysiakini’s Head of Operations, and Saskia Blume, UNICEF Malaysia’s Chief of Child Protection. Tham led the discussion titled ‘Doing No Harm’ which examined what trauma-informed reporting looks like in the Malaysian context. Meanwhile, Blume’s session on ‘Rights, Risks and Opportunities’ considered support needed by journalists to report on digital issues accurately and responsibly.
Participants were divided into four groups to deliberate on a set of questions during each breakout discussion. They dove deep into dialogues and debates as ideas were written down on mahjong paper, and later presented to the room.
The media training closed with closing remarks from Niko Manos Wieland, Chief of Communication from UNICEF Malaysia, who shared how proud he was with the full house of enthusiastic and engaged participants.
These media participants found the training to be enlightening and educational. They voiced great appreciation for the opportunity to join the media training and be part of these informative sessions.
“Today’s session is great because it helped us think a lot more about the care needed when we report about children … because it seems easy when we highlight issues that children face but we have to be careful about exposing them and their loved one to trauma and other risks,” shared Robin Stanley Augustin, Senior News Editor of News Straits Times.
“This is a very meaningful session and a very insightful session. So first of all we know what are the children’s rights from the first session, and for the second session we know about what CSAM is and actually what is happening in our real life and real world. I’m really looking forward to the news report to be published,” said another participant, Gooi Yean Ying, broadcaster of Ai FM.
She further expressed, “I’m very grateful that we have this opportunity to know how to deal with ourselves and how to deal with those who have trauma.”
This training combined child rights perspectives, emerging digital rights issues, and practical reporting considerations. Participants walked away with knowledge and insight on trauma-informed approaches and reporting on CSAM.
