Akeed – A local media outlet that published the photo of a girl who was raped and murdered in an Arab country has breached one of the fundamental professional ethics by showing the minor’s face.
Additionally, republishing the photo has brought up sad and painful memories for her family, Jordan’s Media Monitor, Akeed, said in a report.
The photo, used for a news story titled “In Pictures…In an Arab Country…Execution of Rapists of the “Girl... “Publicly by Firing Squad”, also represents a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Furthermore, it has not been dealt in line with basic publishing principles, noted Akeed which detected the photo.
Dr. Sakher Khasawneh who teaches media legislation said publishing children’s photos is subject to strict ethical rules, adding that the UN Convention protects the privacy of children of all age groups.
“Publishing the victims’ photos in this way constitutes an ethical violation. Republishing them after some time causes harm to children’s families,” he told Akeed in an interview. The media outlet, in this particular case, failed to blur the victim’s face.
Professionalism, objectivity, and respecting human dignity as well as the victims’ families are key principles that should be applied in reporting this type of stories. These form an essential part of the set of Professional and Legal Criteria complied by Akeed.
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One of the projects of the Jordan Media Institute was established with the support of the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, and it is a tool for media accountability, which works within a scientific methodology in following up the credibility of what is published on the Jordanian media according to declared standards.
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