Representation of Children’s Views in Finnish Newspaper Media Across Three Decades

Abstract

As the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) celebrates its thirtieth anniversary,it is relevant to explore how understandings of children’s rights have appeared duringthese three decades. As a key public actor in society, the media provides an interesting field inwhich to study the salience of children’s rights in societal and public discussions. Thus, in this article,we examine how children’s views are represented in «Helsingin Sanomat», the main nationalnewspaper of Finland, in 1997, 2007, and 2017. This examination is based on articles 12 and 13of the UNCRC, where it is stated that children have the right to express themselves in all mattersaffecting them. The data collection for this article was based on a systematic random samplingmethod of these issues in the years mentioned above, and a systematic content analysis was alsoapplied. The results show that, somewhat surprisingly, in 2017, less than a third of news storiesconcerning childhood and children reported children’s views on the matter, while in 2007, almosthalf of news stories reported on children’s views. Based on the data, it appears that macro-levelissues remained within adults’ sphere of discussion during these years.