Radio Broadcast Script: Media's Impact on Children and Trafficking

This radio broadcast script, presented by Ms. Joan Gregory, delves into the effects of media on children and the issue of child trafficking. The script explores both the positive and negative impacts of media, such as its role in education, information dissemination, and entertainment, while also addressing adverse effects on psychological, social, and cultural growth, as well as potential interference with physical and mental health. The script also examines child trafficking as a significant global issue, discussing its causes, including poverty, illiteracy, and inadequate laws, and its connection to forced labor, slavery, and sexual exploitation. The script concludes by emphasizing the importance of recognizing both the benefits and drawbacks of media exposure and the need to combat child trafficking to create a fair and just society for all children.

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Radio Broadcast Script
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Radio Broadcast Script
Title: Effects of Media on Children
Introduction:
Good morning, dear listeners. Welcome to Radio 24/7. My name is Ms. Joan Gregory.
Today is another brilliant day when we have gotten another opportunity to be together.
Thank you all for tuning on to this radio. You are such a great audience. Last week, we
discussed about the plights of the kids. Today, it is another opportunity to discuss about a
different topic. Today, I want to purely talk about the children. My topic of discussion,
therefore, is about how true are the claims children are growing up too fast. To respond to
this query, I will discuss the effects of media on the children and child trafficking. These
topics can help us understand how true the claims children are growing up too fast are.
Background:
Today, I want to spend this program discussing about the effects of media on the children
and child trafficking. Did you all know that media is a platform that is used by the masses
including the children? Well, if you did not know, now, you know. It is true that children
grow so fast. In the process of their growth, they interact with many things including the
media. Over the years, media has been used to benefit people in a number of ways.
However, the benefits of the media are not limited to the adults because even the children
get to enjoy them. By saying all these, I am intending to say that media has had direct
effects on all the users regardless of their age. As a distinguished broadcaster, I know, for
certain, that media is indeed useful to all the segments of the population including

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children. So, since, I had planned to dedicate my time to talk about children, let me do so.
I want to discuss about the positive and negative effects of media on the children.
I have no doubt that media has become popular with the children because of the positive
impacts it has had on them. First and foremost, media has been playing a significant role
in promoting the education of the children. Over the years, radio and the Television (TV)
have been used to educate the children. According to Postman (1994), the media
platforms have programs which are specifically-designed to educate the children and
provide them with the academic knowledge that they need (Postman 1994). These kinds
of programs have been instrumental in promoting the learning of various school subjects
such as mathematics, science, language, and other social sciences. For example, some
films educate children and provide them with problem-solving skills. Secondly, media
has been benefiting the children because it informs them and equips them with up to date
information on various issues that affect them on day-to-day basis. For example, as James
& Prout (2015) found out, the TV and radio usually broadcast news to update the
audience on the current events within their neighborhood, region, nation, and from across
the world (James & Prout 2015). Last, but by no means the least, media benefits the kids
because it gives them a chance to be entertained. TV and radio usually play various
musical genres that do entertain the kids.
Now, I want to explain to you the negative ways through which the media impacts on the
children. From what I know, media has not only benefited the kids because it has had
some adverse effects. The first way through which the media has disadvantaged the
children is that it has negatively-influenced the growth. In his studies, Moinian (2009)
found out that media has negatively impacted on the psychological, social, and cultural

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growth and development of the children because some of its contents lead to acquisition
of undesirable conducts (Moinian 2009). For example, the consumption of certain TV
and radio content can influence the children to be violent, defiant, and immoral. It can
also negatively-influence their speaking, dressing, and dieting habits. Apart from this,
media can interfere with the physical and mental health of the children. Excessive
consumption of media might addict he children and hinder them from engaging in other
useful activities such as outdoor games and physical activity. This can be disastrous
because it can cause lifestyle diseases like childhood obesity, diabetes, heart attack, High
Blood Pressure, and many other related cardiovascular diseases.
Child trafficking refers to the illegal process of acquisition, relocation, and the selling of
children. Child trafficking is not a new practice because it has been in existing for very
many years. Children grow fast, and every year; a lot of children are procured and
exchanged even without their consent. Child trafficking is one of the major issues of
concern not only in the country, but globally. After saying that, I would like to proceed to
tell you much about this practice. It concerns me, you, and the society at large.
According to the report provided by the International Labor Organization, child
trafficking is a $99 billion-annual-global industry. The first thing I would like to let you
know are the causes of child trafficking. There are different factors that have been
contributing to the rampancy of child trafficking in the society. Topping the list of these
causes is poverty. Research has proven that a large number of children end up in
trafficking because of poverty. According to France (2007), poverty is the main cause of
child trafficking because many kids end up in the hands of smugglers because they are
too impoverished and have no source for food, clothing, shelter, medical care, education,

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and other necessities. Besides, child trafficking thrives because of illiteracy (France
2007). Lack of educational opportunities makes the children vulnerable to trafficking
because it deprives them of awareness and livelihood. Moreover, many children are
trafficked because of the inefficiencies in the implementation and enforcement anti-child
trafficking laws both within the country and in the international scene. Such laxities
create room for the perpetrators of these acts to continue doing so. If the laws were tight,
no one would dare engaging in the trafficking any child. Finally, child trafficking thrives
because of the existence of restrictive immigration laws that, of course, makes it
challenging for many children to especially those from the war-torn and less developed
nations across the globe. When such kids lack immigration opportunity, they are
compelled to resort to trafficking as the only alternative to maneuver to other foreign
countries that appeal to them.
Listeners, I know, many of you might ask what makes child trafficking to be a $99
billion-annual-global industry. Well, if you don’t know, listen. Child trafficking has been
gaining popularity because of the high demand of smuggled children who are used to
perform a wide range of activities to their masters. As explained by Featherstone (2005),
such activities include forced labor, slavery, and sexual exploitation (Featherstone 2005).
The smuggled children are used as laborers by many unscrupulous employers who
consider them as cheap laborers because they pay them peanuts and considered
economical. According to Derbyshire (2007), there are also other people who still use
smuggled children as slaves although slavery has been illegalized, trafficking makes it to
persist because, once the smuggled children are acquired, they can be used as slaves
(Derbyshire 2007). This is undesirable, but it happens. Last, but by no means the least, I

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would like to let you know that children are trafficked because they are exploited
sexually. Meaning, they are forced to offer free sexual services or compelled to serve as
child prostitutes. All these are dangerous practices that do not benefit the children in any
way, but adversely-affect them as they grow and develop.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I would like to remind you that media is both good and bad. From this
discussion, it can be observed that, just like the adults, the children, in the process of their
growth, have had their own share of the media. Exposure to and the usage of media has
been benefiting the children because it acts as a chief source of education, information,
and entertainment. These are the benefits that all the children uses do get. However,
despite all these media has also been negatively-impacting on the children because it
interferes with the physical, mental, and social growth.
Dear listeners, as I conclude, I would like to let you know that child children grow fast.
However, in the process of their growth, they encounter numerous challenges including
trafficking and exposure to harmful media. Child trafficking is not a new phenomenon
because it has been with us for centuries. World over, the law is clear that no person
should be sold or use for any transaction irrespective of their status in the society.
However, child trafficking has been condoned and emerged as a billion dollar industry
which thrives in the illegal acquisition, procurement, transfer, and selling of the children.
This is bad because it affects the growth of children. It must be stopped if, in any case,
we are committed to creating a free, equal, fair, and just society for all. Thank you!

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References
Derbyshire, P. 2007. Childhood: Are Reports of its Death Greatly Exaggerated? Journal of Child
Health Care 11 (2), pp. 85-97.
Featherstone, B., 2005. Rethinking family support in the current policy context. British Journal
of Social Work, 36(1), pp.5-19.
France, A. 2007. Understanding Youth in Late Modernity. Maidenhead: OUP.
James, A. &Prout, A. 2015. Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues
in the Sociological Study of Childhood. London: Routledge.
Moinian, F. 2009. I’m just Me! Children talking beyond Ethnic and Religious Identities.
Childhood 16 (1), Pp. 31-48.
Postman, F. 1994. The Disappearance of Childhood. New York: Vintage Books.