Child Clinicians & the Media

Use media proactively to raise awareness:

Although journalists can help child clinicians raise awareness about trauma responses, journalists are NOT public-relations agents for child clinicians. Journalists operate with their own set of rules and ethical code. Clinicians must learn how to work with journalists collaboratively in a way that respects each professional’s aims, culture, code and ethics. Despite the differences in mission, clinicians and journalists can often work in concert to raise public awareness about important issues related to children and trauma.

The two main strategies for using the media proactively involve building collaboration and taking action as described below:

Build collaborations:

  • Provide positive feedback, encouragement and incentives to journalists who handle these issues well. Whenever a clinician, advocate or family member sees good media coverage, contact that journalist and his or her boss (managing editor, news director) by e-mail, letter or phone. Audience response can help news decision-makers.
  • Take a journalist to lunch and suggest story ideas.

    • Encourage journalists to ask the hard questions about the evidence of what makes an effective program.
    • Encourage reporters to look at the lack of resources for families experiencing trauma and the manner in which they persevere in spite of obstacles.
    • Encourage journalists to tell stories from the child’s perspective.
    • Encourage journalists to tell stories about trauma services from the perspective of a family seeking help, a child protective worker, the state child fatality team, a rescue worker, etc.
  • Educate yourself about how the specific media you deal with make assignments and news decisions.

    • Daily newspapers and larger public radio stations may have a “beat” system; get to know the reporters on beats related to children, families, crime, health and related issues.
    • At TV stations, the key decision-maker is more likely an assignment editor or producer.
    • Ask journalists how their particular organizations make news decisions.
  • Don’t blame individual journalists for decisions that are out of their hands, such as bad headlines or story placement.

  • Invite journalists to become part of your community’s disaster drills as a participant and/or observer. Sometimes journalists will not participate, but it can be helpful to plan their needs in a disaster drill.

  • Always follow up and stay in contact with journalists with whom you would like to be building long-term relationships.

Take action:

  • Write press releases about important trauma-related services and events in your community and distribute them to media outlets.

  • Write op-ed pieces or letters to the editor regarding issues that affect trauma-exposed children in your community.

  • When you get asked to speak to a reporter, always ask if he or she is the mental health reporter or a children’s beat reporter. Remind journalists about novel ways many papers are transforming news coverage.

  • Ask journalists or newsroom managers to consider serving on the board of community agencies that serve children who experience traumatic stress. They may not agree due to conflict of interest, but it is important to start asking them to become involved.

  • Invite journalists to events sponsored by your practice or agency as a way of raising awareness and building long-term relationships.

  • Send journalists links to information, publications or recently published academic articles that are relevant to their area of interest.

  • When a story is covered in the media about which you have something to say or a perspective that is not expressed, contact the journalist with whom you have a standing relationship to provide your point of view and help develop story ideas.

In conclusion:

By following the steps outlined in this booklet, clinicians can begin to develop positive professional relationships with journalists and use the media as an effective means to raise awareness and educate the public about the impact of child traumatic stress. It is our hope that by engaging journalists, child trauma will be better understood, given the attention it deserves and recognized as a serious public health concern.