La Strada Documentation Center

A Tangled Web: Human Trafficking, Child Protection and the Media

Document number
2892
Date
2011
Title
A Tangled Web: Human Trafficking, Child Protection and the Media
Author/publisher
Media Monitoring Africa
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Prevention, Awareness Raising, Media, Information Campaigns, Empowerment, Advocacy, Civil society, NGO, Human Rights approach, Activism, Education, Training;
Summary
This report examines South African media coverage of human trafficking during the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup. The monitoring period included the month during the World Cup and the month immediately after (11/06/2010 - 06/08/2010). A total of 3009 newspaper stories and broadcast items were monitored of which 60 (1.99%) were human trafficking related items - which form the basis of this report. As the final component of a broader multifaceted project "Child Protection and Human Trafficking: Is the Media Telling the Right(s) Story", MMA has begun the development of a best practice methodology for reporting on human trafficking with a specific focus on child protection. Findings show that media coverage of human trafficking during the monitoring period can be distinguished into the period during the World Cup and the period immediately after by the kinds of stories reported. During the World Cup media failed in numerous stories to identify human trafficking where it was in fact found, and these items were classified as Missed Opportunities because of this. In other regards, during the World Cup there was a predominance of stories pertaining to education, awareness and protection, whereas after the World Cup, this is where we see greater reporting on actual occurrences or incidents of human trafficking. This report will elaborate on methods used to analyse the media and findings and additionally provide insight into the issues themselves.
Related documents