Child as a Subject of Right: Ukrainian Journalism in the Formation of Social Awareness for Children

The article is a studio prologue to the study of a complex large-scale scientific problem, which can be described as “journalism and the culture of childhood”. The basic question of this scientific area is the image of the child who forms the media. The key is that a child is a legal entity or a dispossessed entity.

The issue was investigated through a study of journalistic activity in informing society about the rights of the child and the main international legal document that officially enshrines these rights — the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The empirical material has been inductively narrowed down to the main issues of the most rated news programs of Ukrainian TV channels (“1+1”, “ISTV”, “STB”, “INTER”) on the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention — November 20, 2019. At the same time, on November 20, the world annually celebrates World Children’s Day. The media’s attention to the issue of children’s rights on this day is an indicative criterion for journalism’s interest in the so-called child issue in general. And especially — at the very least: the events to mark the 30th anniversary of the Convention could be a good informational occasion for raising the public’s attention to the issue of children’s rights.

The monitoring of the said media for information on the Convention is preceded by a brief reconnaissance of measures — in Ukraine and abroad — to mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of this international instrument. All news that was directly related to children was analyzed from the perspective of forming a view of juveniles as legal entities.

The main motive for the appeal of journalists to topics related to children is identified, and the shortcomings of their coverage are highlighted. The influence of television news journalism on the formation of society’s awareness of children has been established.