Bengal: WBCPCR Gives Awards on 'Responsible" Child Rights Reporting, Newsclick Among Winners

Kolkata: The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR), the nodal quasi-judicial body on child rights in the state, gave away awards to journalists who had helped highlight child rights in the state in the past year, as well as to some brave children.

The Shishushree award for ‘Best and Responsible Reporting’ on child rights in the state were given at an event held on November 22, 2024 at Kolkata’s Rabindra Sadan.

Among those who received the awards were journalists from NewsClick, Times of India, All India Radio, Bartaman and Aajkal.

NewsClick’s Sandip Chakraborty  won the award  for his report on child trafficking, especially cross-border.  The awards includes a citation, a cash award of Rs 10,000 and a certificate.

Apart from this Birpurush and Birangana awards were also given in the programme to children who did “exemplary” work in the area, such as saving friends from drowning, and from being trafficked. A girl won a gallantry award for dissolving her early marriage by calling the child helpline in the state. 

The programme was organised as part of the commemoration ceremony of International Child Rights day on November 20. The Shishushree award is being given since 2017 for “exemplary reporting in print electronics and new media”, in English, Bengali, Hindi and Nepali languages.

Speaking with NewsClick, a senior member of WBCPCR said that the concept of child rights was a new thing in the media, and “responsible reporting protects the dignity and the rights of children. Not when then they are alive but even after death, the dignity of children should be protected.”

The judges of this edition of the award were Press Club of Kolkata president Snehasish Sur, senior journalists Sraboni Das and Sudeshna Basu.

 Tulika Das, chairperson of WBCPCR, said the awards had enthused children as well as the reporters to highlight child-sensitive issues. 

“In the Shishushree award, social journalism and any news about child rights that is well represented is a yardstick. As language really matters, presenting the news about children or child discrimination should be written in a dignified manner.  For this, we are also planning sensitisation seminars with reporters.”

Das also said that the commission had stared a child rights-based media curriculum in media studies in universities. “The pilot module has been successfully operational in the Sister Nivedita University,” she added.

In her speech, state women and children welfare minister Shashi Panja said these awards should help the awardees do better in the future. She also outlined the work of her department and of the commission and pointed out how NGOs too play an important part when it comes to raising child rights and child-right related issues.