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 strikes. What ground rules apply? Is it OK to interview children huddled outside a school after a classmate has opened fire? Should a child be named as a victim of abuse in news coverage?
Here we bring together wisdom, examples and interdisciplinary resources to aid and inform those concerned with how children involved in traumatic events are covered in the media.
How should we handle reporting about children who are accused of committing crimes? What about children who are the victims of crimes, or witnesses to crimes? This resource from ONA Ethics offers some useful guidance.
Media reporting on children and young people should never put them at risk. UNICEF has developed principles and guidelines to help journalists report on children’s issues in a way that enables them to serve the public interest without compromising the rights of children.
This article from the Columbia Journalism Review outlines some best practices that education reporters keep in mind when interviewing children.
How can journalists start thinking about aftermath when there is no end in sight?