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	Introduction   Interviewing: Kelly Shephard   Dealing with contributors: Ben Sutherland   Upholding privacy: Beatriz Gomez   Zimbabwe: Joseph Winter   Uzbekistan: Pahlavon Turgunov   On Mr Milosevic: Geraldine Coughlan   Safeguarding children in Africa: Valerie Msoka   Reflecting the Afghan people: Asif Maroof   Covering 9/11: Stephen Cviic   Bugging and recording   Anonymity   Paedophiles and identification   Accessing untransmitted material		A child's own consent should always be sought about being interviewed or involved in programmes and the child's refusal to take part should not be overridden. Safeguarding children in Africa - by Valerie Msoka, Broadcast Journalist, World Service News Programmes I travelled to Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda in 1998, for a World Service series on children in areas with conflicts. The programmes were produced in Kiswahili for the Swahili section. All these countries have been affected by conflict – a power struggle led to genocide in Rwanda and civil wars were carried out in the DRC, Burundi and Uganda. Child interviewees In all, my sources were children – orphans, child soldiers and also children who had participated in the genocide. I had no experience of interviewing children who had gone through trauma. I also knew little about how to handle them or myself when things got emotional. I sat down with the children and asked them if they would be willing to talk to me. It was important to get their consent. Some agreed but had conditions, such as my disguising their voices and names. I accepted. Their stories were deeply disturbing. These were children who had survived terrible experiences - one child recounted how she saw her mother being hacked to pieces. Another told me how she was unable to remember the number of times she was raped in one night, by soldiers, whilst she was staying in a refugee camp. The issue of safety My aim was to build a picture of the situation and thereby help create an awareness of what happens to children in conflict areas. My interviewees, on the other hand, needed to know that they would be safe after the programmes were broadcast. It was hard work. For instance, when a child in Rwanda spoke, I translated it and then gave the written translation to another child in Rwanda, and asked him or her to read it. I did this to both protect the child and keep the accent. At times, it was difficult to find children who would be willing to read such terrible experiences. The important thing is that in doing the voice-overs I didn't change the content and nature of the programmes.

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