On the occasion of Universal Children"s Day on 20 November, which is the same date on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, AKEED has monitored media handling and coverage of crimes against children in 2017. The number of children who were victims of eight murders committed this year has totaled 10. According to a report issued by Sisterhood Is Global Institute (SIGI)-Jordan, the number of victims of family murders has totaled

23, including seven children within 10 months in 2017, besides the killing of three children in murders committed by people from outside the family.

Media outlets violated professional and ethical standards in covering murders that have occurred against children since the beginning of the year. The violations focused on coverage of murders in which one party (victim or perpetrator) was non-Jordanian or the perpetrator was from outside the family.

The violations involved publishing inaccurate information, pictures of victims, and pictures and names of perpetrators, in addition to publishing conflicting information on the same murder without going back to sources.

Other media outlets showed professional commitment when covering murders committed within the family (perpetrator was a relative) by not providing information that does not have news value or that affects due process. Also, they did not publish pictures of the victims or perpetrators.

Murders Within the Family

* Media outlets published a factual report (occurrence of the murder) on the death of a woman and her two children, aged 3 and 9, after suffering third-degree burns in a fire at their house in Qweismah in the capital, Amman. Their house was set on fire by the wife of the woman"s brother in law, assisted by her two daughters who are in their twenties.

* Citizen Shoots Six-Year-Old Daughter Dead and Commits Suicide in Nuzha. Media outlets published a factual report, which included basic information on this murder and the start of investigations.

* The same applies to a murder committed by a person with a criminal record who stabbed his 60-year-old sister and her two-year-old grandson and caused serious injuries to the woman"s daughter in law in Muwaqqar in southern Amman. Media outlets published the Public Security story, while one website published photos of the perpetrator upon his arrest and hid his face.

* Media outlets showed great interest in the murder of a mother and her two children at the hands of her husband in Ramtha. The latter stabbed them with a knife and then turned himself in to the security agencies. In this connection, media outlets did not commit violations in their coverage. However, there were conflicting accounts concerning the death of the third child who was taken to hospital in a critical condition, but her health soon improved.

* The fifth murder claimed the life of 14-year-old Qusay. His father electrocuted him when he tried to discipline and punish him for doing something. Media outlets followed the case by publishing a factual report and then provided some details, especially the justification cited by the murderer for this action. Many of them published pictures of the child prior to his death.

Perpetrators From Outside the Family

This year, there have been two cases of crimes in which there was sexual assault against children prior to murdering them. The perpetrator was from outside the family. The first murder occurred against a seven-year-old Syrian boy in Jabal Al-Nuzha by a neighbor of the family.

In this case, media outlets committed several violations. They published a photo of a Lebanese child who died in 2014, claiming that it was of the Syrian child who died in Jordan. They also circulated false pictures of the murderer and published his first and middle names. Some of them conducted interviews with the members of the family of the victim, who provided important information that is at the heart of the investigation. There are many other violations that AKEED monitored in a previous report.

The websites focused in their headlines and reports on the (Syrian) nationality of the child, which could make readers link the motives of the murder to the nationality of the child. However, it turned out that the murder was criminal and had no other dimensions.

Social media sites circulated pictures, which they said were of the murderer and the victim. The pictures were clearly copied from a personal account on Facebook. Media outlets did not publish the pictures with the exception of one news website that posted the two pictures together, especially after the issuance of the Public Security statement, which denied the truth of the picture of the murderer and vowed to track down those who publish it through the Cyber Crime Unit in the Criminal Investigation Department and to take legal action against them.

The second incident involves sexual assault against an eight-year-old boy in Sahab, who was found by a worker in a nearby factory. The boy was strangled and thrown into a pond at a quarry east of the capital. Media outlets made a mistake by focusing on the nationality of the boy, whether explicitly or implicitly. This practice does not have any news value. It also contributes to ostracizing workers and creating a negative stereotype about them. The AKEED Monitor published a report previously on this.

The same applies to the murder of a child in Irbid by a domestic worker. Media outlets focused on the nationality of the domestic worker and published conflicting reports about her nationality. They also passed judgment on the family members and exaggerated the murder through publishing controversial and provocative headlines. AKEED had previously published a report about these violations.

Nadine Nimri, a journalist who is specialized in childhood issues, says that "there is clear discrimination in media handling of the nationality of child victims. Media outlets held the family of the Syrian child responsible, while they did not do that in the case of the Jordanian child who was murdered in Sahab although he lived outside his house and in a situation marked by family disintegration."

Speaking to AKEED, Nimri adds: "Many media outlets have violated the privacy of the family of the Syrian child by reporting the funeral in audio and video and in a moment of weakness of the family while bidding the child last farewell. However, had the child been Jordanian, they would not have been able to take this risk out of fear of the reaction of the family and of being held legally accountable."

She goes on to say: "When it comes to the perpetrators being non-Jordanian, some media outlets belabored the point that such crimes are alien to our society and are not committed by Jordanian citizens although the murderer of the Syrian child is Jordanian and the six crimes that occurred this year against children were committed by Jordanians."

To have the most read pieces, media outlets, especially websites, seek to use sensational headlines, according to Nimri, such as "Details Revealed for First Time." In addition, they are in a race to publish pictures and videos and to conduct interviews with the families of victims.

Nimri notes that media outlets need to show greater attention to the substance of these cases by focusing on the victims of family disintegration and the authorities" efforts to check the ability of domestic workers to handle children and old people. This is in addition to raising awareness to protect children from sexual harassment or, more accurately, pedophiles.

Nimri highlights two important points. First, journalists must heed the sensitivity of covering crimes that occur against a vulnerable group and that reflect seriously on families. Second, they must not rely on everything that perpetrators say in front of the public prosecutor to justify their actions in view of the negative effect this has on the investigation and on influencing public opinion. Journalists must report events without the little details that do not have any news value. For example, in the case of the child who was murdered in Sahab, news websites could have used the expression "tried to assault him sexually" instead of "rape" as these terms are of interest to the judiciary and there is no need for them in the media.

The Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED) recalls Article 14 of the Press Code of Honor, which states that "journalists shall commit to defending causes of childhood and their fundamental rights of care and protection. They shall refrain from interviewing children or taking their pictures without the consent of their parents or guardians." Here, there is emphasis on the need for obtaining permission from the parents of the child before taking pictures and then publishing.