Getting a clear picture: participative media education as a tool for improving the status of children?
Getting a clear picture: participative media education as a tool for improving the status of children?

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses the role of the media image of the children in creating and maintaining their low status in society, as well as participative media education as a way of improving the status of children, potentially benefiting both children and society. Results from the empirical study that was done in Serbia in 2001 were presented, and they indicated low visibility of children in media contents for adults, as well as portraying children mostly as passive, whether as an objects of adults' protection and care or as an actual victims. Besides raising awareness and training of journalists, an important contribution to improving the way children are presented in the media would be made by their own participation. The effect of participatory media education is twofold: a) it supports cognitive and social development and affects the way children perceive themselves and b) it affects the way adults perceive children – the image of an active, capable and responsible child makes the solid ground for changing the relevant policies in order to improve the status of children in the society.

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