Child labor gang; The myth that the media created
We see many children every day at the crossroads of the city, sometimes with their small bodies lost in the colorful cars on the street, and we only see their small hands when they ask for an amount of money stretching to the half-high windows. Children are often forced by their families to leave the school and just work, but most of the time we passers-by them impatiently, and sometimes, because we believe that they are part of a gang, we treat them harshly, as if The production of national media has had a great impact on this representation and is now believed by many people.
One of the most debatable programs that attracted the attention of many social activists and experts in this field was the series The Voice of the Rain and the Queen of Beggars, which some belief harmed the efforts of activists to raise public awareness in this field and also the invitation of two working children to the TV shows that took place a few years ago had the same effects. According to Haidari, such programs and series do not properly examine the problem and do not take steps to solve a social problem.
How is the representation of working children in series and media?
Sama Haidari, a social researcher, referring to the issue of portraying the wrong image of child labor in the media and national media programs, believed that according to the documents reviewed in her dissertation on the representation of child labor in series,
not a single child labor case has been reported. “Apart from my research in this area, I also spoke with activists who have been working professionally in this field for several years, and even once they did not deal with the issue of children’s gangs, and they completely reject the children’s gangs,”. Haidari continued: “After thoroughly examining the required documents, I turned to the representation of child labor in the media and analyzed it to see that it has nothing to do with social reality and the reality of these children’s lives is different from what The media and serials show that they are different, because when we individualize a phenomenon, for example, we say that the child is from the gang, that is, we did not make a structural defect on it, while according to my research, the most important reason of the increase in child labors is the economic poverty of families.”
The researcher pointed to the large population of most lower-class families and mentioned that a lot of factors had contribution in this cycle so that the child of that family is involved in divination and begging at the crossroads, and she continued: »These are structural problems, consider If the level of culture and economy goes up, how many less such problems will there be, so when we individualize a structural problem, the culprit changes, as we see in some series.
For example, in the series The Voice of the Rain, which reflected such a wrong view, finally showed its solution, the main role donated his father’s house, that is, they show the issue as they want, and in the end, they showed the charities responsible for this issues which is a problem in itself.« This is the reason we talk to everyone in the community and they say the child laborers are gangs. »
Haidari emphasized that if problems are not known properly, they will not be solved properly and she continues:
” Now, television is the biggest public awareness center, and unfortunately what has it done for the child labor is that ignore them, these children have not been seen at all in the structure of television, and they are all in gangs, which is their problem. In the end, charities will be founded for them. In this case, the propagandists of such thinking only acquit themselves, and this leads to the fact that people don’t concern about these children and also leads to misrepresentation.”
She said: “I know a boy who was a working child himself, but he studied, and now he is a successful poet. He used to tell me that the biggest injustice was done by the media against the child because not only did he never help us, but it shows the working child as a pickpocket and a smuggler.
but the fact is that as a child I often went out of the house to find food, even another boy said, my mother sometimes told me to go to find your food. So the working children themselves are disappointed by these misrepresentations, and only in this way the issue will be cleared up. We put ourselves in their shoes who not only carries a very heavy burden in life at age six but also the wrong behavior to them make it worse. “It might be better that the media don’t show a picture of these children at all so that we can see and understand these pictures in a real-life, and the self-esteem of these children will be preserved better.”
Haidari pointed out the importance of self-esteem for these children and said: “When a 9-year-old child works day and night and is finally labeled, injustice takes root in him and at an older age causes his anger, in fact, we with misbehaving, turn these children into criminals and stabbers,
And unfortunately, the self-esteem of these children in the media is meaningless, and it does not matter to them at all how they should deal with the issue.”
The researcher concluded: “For example, when two children are invited to the TV show, they should consider how this has affected the social issue, but in general, they have a problem with this issue. In my opinion, the media is aware and conscious of this representation. If 75% of child labor is due to family poverty, we will do our best to recover the economic cycle of the country, and I think the media understands all these dimensions and is just trying to do something to not feel guilty. »
Source: Didar News
Author: Nastaran Farokheh