Reporting on Violence Against Children: A Guide for Journalists

"There is a pressing need for journalists to understand the global health crisis that is violence against children, and the many forms of violence against children that exist. This will help this crisis to end."

From the World Health Organization (WHO), this guide seeks to help editors and journalists understand the scale, forms, and complexities of violence against children in order to encourage better and more solutions-oriented reporting on this public health issue. In particular, it is designed to guide journalists to expose the harms caused by violence against children and to explore what can be done to prevent it through a solutions-oriented approach. It also hopes to help enrich and increase reporting on the subject by identifying opportunities to expand and sustain coverage on this issue.

As explained in the guide, "The harm caused by violence against children does not disappear with time or the onset of adulthood. It is a deeply traumatic experience that can leave children with a legacy of pain and suffering into adulthood, affecting entire communities and countries, often for decades. Millions of children around the world continue paying the price for political instability and adult decision-making that rarely includes long-term thinking or the importance of integrating child-focused policies into all state sectors. In a world where children are still largely seen as unimportant, reporting on these forms of violence can change that narrative. It can give children the visibility and legitimacy they deserve and can help to make violence against children a thing of the past."

According to the guide, the issue of violence against children is largely overlooked in the media, and, when there is media coverage, the media mainly focus their reporting on violence against children in the contexts of war, conflict, and slavery. What is receiving less coverage are the less-visible forms of violence found in low-, middle-, and high-income countries worldwide. According to the guide, the media coverage also often fails to describe the impact of this violence, especially through the eyes that matter most: those of the child. It often ignores the deeper aspects of abuse, prioritising sensationalism over substance (and often factual accuracy) to attract readers' attention - even though reporting on violence against children does not need to be sensationalist to make an impact.

The guide stresses how high-quality media coverage of stories on violence against children can help protect children from experiencing such violence. In addition to exposing the problem, journalists can offer examples of evidence-based solutions and initiatives that have helped reverse the damage that violence can cause - and even reduce its prevalence. "By presenting credible information on children's exposure to violence, including by amplifying the voices of children and adolescents, and those that represent them, the media can help society adopt appropriate standards for treating and protecting them. This in turn can push governments to improve legal protection (through laws and their enforcement) and can help everyone - from parents, teachers, neighbours and children - to adopt norms and systems of protection that permeate daily life."

The following is covered in the guide:

• Key statistics that show the scale of global violence against children;
• Frameworks that can help journalists tell the full story of violence against children, which include the WHO's INSPIRE: Seven strategies for ending violence against children;
• Definitions of violence against children and testimonies from survivors of such violence;
• Tips on how to improve reporting on children; and
• Further resources for solutions-based journalism on the subject.

The contents of the guide are as follows:

• Introduction
  • Violence against children: Key issues
• Chapter 1: Reporting on violence against children
  • The power of the media to expose violence against children
  • Why violence against children must be headline news
  • Helping journalists tell the story
  • Solutions-based journalism
  • Using INSPIRE for solutions-based journalism
  • Using data to tell the story
  • Critical story elements
• Chapter 2: Ethics and reporting tips
• Chapter 3: Interviewing children

The guide is based on a review of existing guidance for journalists on how to report on violence against children, as well as interviews with journalists that have done so in the past. It served as the basis for a series of WHO trainings with over 50 journalists from more than 20 countries in 2021. Training participants reviewed the first draft, and their inputs were subsequently included in the final guide.