MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday released revised guidelines for media coverage of cases involving children that it said are intended to keep up with rapid advances in communications and with laws not yet in force when the original rules were adopted in 2000.

Undersecretary Linda Hormilla, who chairs the DoJ’s special committee for the protection of children (SCPC), stressed “children need special safeguards and care due to their size, vulnerability and young age.”

"Every effort must be exerted to ensure that children are accorded special protection to enable them to grow and develop in atmosphere of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity," she added.

Hormilla said the challenge for media organizations and journalists is “how to carry out their duty of informing the public effectively and, at the same time, [be] aware of the need to protect children and enhance their rights without in anyway compromising the freedom of expression or undermining their independence as journalists.”

The revised guidelines were crafted with the help of the Philippine General Hospital’s Child Protection Unit, the Departments of Social Welfare and Development, Interior and Local Government, and Health, National Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Immigrations.

The guidelines stress the “absolute right to privacy” of children and the “absolute” confidentiality of “all records and matter[s] involving child abuse victims and children in conflict with [the] law.”

”It is absolutely prohibited to access, use in any manner [or] disseminate a child’s case files or records,” the guidelines warn. “Any media practitioner who accesses, uses or disseminates a child’s case files and any person who provides records involving a child will be dealt with in accordance to existing laws.”

They also prohibit the identification, through words or images, of and interviews with child victims or offenders “except when he or she is accompanied by psychologists or social workers known to her or him.”

The guidelines also prohibit the publication or broadcast of any “information that would lead to the identification of the child or any member of his family.”

”The disclosure of any private or graphic detail of the case, including medico-legal findings, in public is strictly prohibited,” they warn, adding that “the use of sexualized images of children in any form is a violation of the child rights.”

The guidelines also require organizations speaking for or representing a child to be “duly accredited, registered or license[d] by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) or by any appropriate government agency.”

Recognizing mass media as “partner[s] in the promotion of child rights and prevention of child delinquency,” the guidelines urge that ”journalistic activity which touches on the lives and welfare of children must be carried out with sensitivity and appreciation of the vulnerable situation of the children, so that children are not re-victimized or re-traumatized.”

”On media coverage of specific cases, the present as well as the long term implication for the child’s recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration shall be taken into consideration by all those involved in deciding and implementing the said approach to media coverage,” the guidelines add.

“Crimes of violence by or against children must be reported factually and seriously without passing judgment, stereotyping or sensationalism. The child’s dignity must be respected at all times.”

The guidelines also discourage “the release of the child’s identity to elicit financial support or aid for the child’s medical care” and call for “a conscious effort to avoid sensationalism and exploitation of the child in need of assistance.”