It is very important that channels like this provide information to youth about the opportunities they have – we think this is very important. Media influence is very powerful, and I think that things can only get better if the media begins to think differently, and if they adopt a better form of thinking. We think that all these issues are important, and that we have a right to make ourselves heard. It is by listening to us that things can be improved for us. These views of the children are compatible with the findings in the policy review section which showed that there are very few legislative and policy mechanisms aimed at involving and representing children in the media. Children felt that they were not asked about what they would like to see on television or hear on the radio. They also said they were willing and keen to provide their opinions and views were media organisation to ask them. ‘If they ask’, one child said, ‘I will say what I have to say.’ Another added that he felt it important that children’s views were sought by the media because ‘these things affect our lives.’ Returning to the discussion on the dedicated youth channel on MNBC One [the state broadcaster], one child observed: [W] can’t say that it’s very good, the way it currently functions. It’s okay as an entertainment channel. But there is no information on it that’s relevant to children. It’s mostly entertainment. It does not work that hard for youth entertainment. Even if it is sports, it’s all foreign stuff. It is very rarely that there is local stuff---it’s always adults on, if there is local stuff. Children in situations of violence None of the children could immediately recall the national Child Helpline number. All the children, however, knew vaguely that such a number existed. They were also all aware that violence against children is a crime and that laws exist which deal with such offences. What the younger children seem to understand when asked about children in situations of violence was that it referred to fights that sometimes breakout between and amongst children—such as instances of bullying. Some of the older children said they were aware of violence against children in the context of sexual and other forms of violence. Their knowledge was gained mostly from media reports. Others said they had attended the occasional seminar held at school or another special event where they had heard such matters being discussed. The child helpline number, however, is not often publicised, nor are children very well informed of where and to whom they should turn to help if they found themselves, or their contemporaries, in such a situation. There was a general consensus among students, however, that school counsellors were people they could turn to for help, and were persons with whom they could speak with in confidence. 40