Child Clinicians & the Media

How to respond to a journalist’s questions:

Most clinicians may not have had practice speaking with journalists. Many may be more accustomed to providing information in a clinical or academic setting.

The needs of journalists are different. Responses should be concise, authoritative and easily quotable. Clinicians may want to avoid making generalizations or talking in “absolutes,” but journalists need to provide relevant information in an easily consumable and understandable format.

Interview the journalist:

Scott North, a journalist from The Herald (Everett, Washington), says he always responds well when an expert says, “Tell me a little about what you know on this topic, and I’ll see if I can help fill in the blanks.”

Before agreeing to the interview, talk to the journalist:

• Ask the journalist why this topic is newsworthy right now.
• Ask the journalist why he or she has contacted you and how you can be most helpful. 
• Ask the journalist who else he or she has spoken to or plans to contact to speak to about the topic.
• Don’t be afraid to challenge the journalist’s assumptions.

Some tips for talking with journalists:

• Don’t make assumptions about what the public knows or doesn’t know.
• Speak simply and clearly about one or two key messages.
• Resist the impulse to be an all-knowing expert; succinct, clear statements on the key matters will be most effective.
• Have short case examples (with any identifying detail removed) to demonstrate your point.
• Avoid the use of jargon or “psychobabble.”
• Keep it short and practice ahead of time.
• Be sure to put your answer in context of the larger issues.
• Know the limits of your knowledge and be willing to say “I don’t know” or “That is outside of my area of expertise.”
• Know when to refer to other experts and provide the journalists with some leads.

In your statements:

• As often as possible, provide a message about positive coping and what families can do to increase resiliency in difficult times.
• Place the event in question in context by explaining how common this type of event is compared with other events. Although news often focuses on extreme or unique cases, the expert can remind people about the context of a particular tragedy in light of similar ones.
• Emphasize victims, not perpetrators.
  • Portray the effects of violence.
  • Resist the tendency to discuss portray all victims as heroic in the face of danger, because not all survivors feel their actions were courageous (Libow,1992).
  • Avoid using words like “closure,” “chaos” and “mayhem.”
  • Convey any information that would reduce the stigma of looking for help.
  • Remind journalists that children who are interviewed by the media in group tragedies and atrocities may have potentially negative reactions (those who are not selected may have reactions as well) (Libow, 1992).
  • When possible, remind journalists to provide children and other victims with a special level of journalistic care regarding privacy, interviewing style, etc.

Press kits:

It is helpful to have a “press kit” ready—a packet of material containing basic background information on traumatic stress and children, mental health resources in the community, other reliable sources of information as well as information on your practice or organization and contact information.

Addressing bias, stereotypes and common misconceptions:

News accounts often present victims in narrow, clichéd terms, as tragic, or pathetic. It will be important to counter these biases by helping the journalist write a story that gets readers to care about the victims in fresh and unexpected ways. Some tips:

• Inform journalists about traumatic reactions and coping whenever possible.
• Provide information and data about different groups affected by a trauma—the child victim, the parents, the siblings, bystanders, law enforcement and social services—so that journalists consider the story from multiple perspectives.
• Ensure that journalists understand that responses to traumatic events vary widely.

Should clinicians help journalists find families to talk to?

Often journalists will ask clinicians if there is a family struggling with issues of traumatic stress who would be willing to talk to media representatives about a story they are working on. Due to confidentiality laws, journalists may have trouble acquiring official records of trauma-exposed children, and speaking with children and families helps them tell better stories. This is a delicate area. What should you do when journalists ask you to provide them with a real family to speak with in order to tell a story?

• It is important to remember that clinicians are always bound by professional ethical standards including the responsibility to protect the privacy of their clients.
• In general, clinicians need to be cautious because clients may feel obliged to comply as a way of acknowledging the care received.
• Remember that the decision to talk to the media is ultimately the family’s.
• After treatment, facilities can create an informed-consent list of people who would be willing to talk to the media. The form should make clear that clients are not obligated to comply, that they can receive services in the future regardless of whether or not they choose to be contacted, and that the agency cannot guarantee any particular outcome. They are also free to say no to any journalist if they are ever contacted.
• In some settings, it may be appropriate to leave a flyer in the waiting room indicating that journalists are seeking opportunities to talk with families who have experienced traumatic events. The decision to do this will depend on the agency and the population served.

There are no hard-and-fast rules. You must use your clinical judgment on a case-by-case basis.