Tips & Tools
Children and Trauma
Children are not miniature adults, and they deserve special consideration when they end up in the news. Yet few journalists have experience interviewing children for routine stories, let alone when tragedy hits. This page brings together wisdom, examples and interdisciplinary resources to aid and inform those concerned with how children involved in traumatic events are covered in the media.
Dart Resources
When Subjects are Young, The Rules Change
In this tipsheet, building on the 2011 Dart Center workshop "Out of the Shadows: Reporting on Intimate Partner Violence," Stefanie Friedhoff reviews how to navigate the challenges of reporting on youth.
Reporting on Adolescents
In this video from the 2011 Dart Center workshop "Out of the Shadows: Reporting on Intimate Partner Violence," New York Times staff writer Jan Hoffman discusses reporting on intimacy and violence in the lives of adolescents.
A Tormenting Problem: An Exploration of New-Age Bullying
This series, spurred by the suicide of a Massachusetts teenager, explores the phenomenon of bullying from every angle, including the experiences of victims and the adults and institutions charged with protecting them. Originally published in the Boston Globe throughout 2010.
Seeking Justice for Campus Rapes
This series combined far-reaching investigative reporting with powerful personal stories to expose a pattern in which college students found responsible for sexual assaults face little punishment, while their victims receive little help. Originally aired on NPR in February and March, 2010.
Swept Away: The Albert Pike Flood
The story of a flash flood that killed 20 people — eight of them children — is told in an in-depth, three-part series focusing on the experience of two families. Originally published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in November, 2010.
Outside Resources
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Child Sexual Abuse
National Center for PTSD
A National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet. It details the effects of sexual abuse on children, and adults exposed to sexual abuse as children.
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The Effects of Community Violence on Children and Adolescents
National Center for PTSD
A National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet. A summary of the specific effects of community violence on children and adolescents.
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Terrorist Attacks and Children
National Center for PTSD
A summary of research involving children's responses to terrorism and strategies for helping them recover.
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Childhood Traumatic Grief: Educational Materials [PDF]
National Child Traumatic Stress Network
The NCTSN has published recommendations for journalists who cover childhood trauma.
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Helping Children Cope with Tragedy
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
An example of a sidebar with information about the possible effects of trauma on children.
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Covering Domestic Violence
Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
A guide for journalists and other media professionals.
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Covering Tragedy
ABC Radio
2007 Ochberg Fellow Lisa Millar talks about trauma journalism on the National Media Report.
All Tips & Tools
Publications for Topic
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Covering Children & Trauma
When children are victims of violence, journalists have a responsibility to report the truth with compassion and sensitivity.
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Tragedies & Journalists
A 40-page guide to help journalists, photojournalists and editors report on violence while protecting both victims and themselves.