Voiceless Youth – Reasons (Not) to Involve Minors in News Coverage

Previous research has shown that young people’s voices are under- and misrepresented in the news. However, editorial mechanisms behind this outcome remain largely unexplored. Drawing from professional frame of media accountability, people present journalism with a double challenge: to avoid harm while enabling participation. In paper, we examine including/excluding news Sweden Estonia through an overview ethical breach cases affecting minors set semi-structured interviews editors. These investigations context digital changes perspectives children's rights childhood as social construct. The interview study revealed facilitating freedom expression might be ideal, but practice, have limited value sources. While editors paid close attention protective measures for underage interviewees, these were sometimes inconsistent overly protective. Furthermore, majority concerned children who talked about, rather than with. Therefore, argue current interpretations accountability limit news, still failing provide effective remedy harm.