Health & Fitness
Journalists Can Do More When Reporting on Child Sexual Abuse
Stories need to include hard facts on who these predators are and how to protect children.
A few weeks ago, on Sandy Springs Patch, I read about a resident that molested his grandaughter between 1991 - 1999. He is 83 and I am going to go out on a limb and bet his attraction to young people didn't start at age 63 or stop at the age of 71.
Separately, a recent story on WSB-TV.com said a CDC official was arrested. She and her boyfriend are charged with molesting a six-year-old boy.
But what is it that we are really reading, and what is it that is not being said? What is your immediate thought when you see a headline like "CDC executive arrested for child molestation, bestiality, out of jail"? Are you angry, ho hum, glad you don't know them? Or are you struck by the headline and continue to read an article that lays out the booking process of the offender?
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What we are often fed is a sensational headline of an arrest for a deviant behavior. But what is not being said is, it was an invasion; a humilitaing and disgusting violation of a young person's body.
Articles also rarely inform readers that there are ways of minimizing such abuse. In a report by bsmg.org, they found that 73 percent of news stories use a criminal child sexual abuse case to hook a reader, but they don't focus on the real harm done to the victim, society, or how adults can protect young people from such predators. Until these stories start to include the hard facts on who these criminals are, the severity and frequentcy of sexual abuse, and how to protect these young people; we will continue to read sensational headlines without any guidance on how to put an end to child sexual abuse.
Find out what's happening in Sandy Springswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The shocking truth is, 1 out of 4 girls and 1 out 6 boys will be sexually abused by their 18th birthday. 30 - 40 percent of young people are sexually abused by a family member. As many as 60 percent are abused by someone the entire family trusts. In a nut shell, that is to say about 90 percent of child sexual abuse vicitms are violated by someone they know.
As you read future articles, and hear news reports, about child sexual abuse, I'd like to encourage you to ask yourself (and the authors of such stories) this question: "What could have been done to stop this sooner?"
