WASHINGTON, December 14 (RIA Novosti) As national and global media raced to Newtown, Connecticut, to cover the horrific elementary school shooting there Friday, Twitter was flooded with furious comments directed at news outlets that interviewed children at the scene of the tragedy.
While much of the rage came from the broader public, the decision to include interviews with children in the coverage of the tragedy sparked disgust and consternation from media professionals and personalities as well.
There is a 9 year old on TV right now, and she's talking about the guns she saw. Have you any moral judgement left, television news? #Newton
— Elamin Abdelmahmoud (@elamin88) December 14, 2012
I consider myself to be an aggressive reporter, but I'd never interview young school children about a tragedy w/o their parents' permission.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) December 14, 2012
Why are journalists trying to interview children from the school about the shooting? Show some ethics & integrity.
— Christian M™ (@TheBoxingCoach) December 14, 2012
As a parent, I'd just like to make it clear that reporters interviewing kids right now are disgusting... #HaveSomeRespect
— Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) December 14, 2012
@bbcnews Just because someone had the bad taste to interview children about the shooting, don't compound it by replaying it over and over.
— Sandy Greenberg (@Curly_boy1) December 14, 2012
Several television networks aired interviews Friday with children who were inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where authorities say a 20-year-old gunman shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children, before turning the gun on himself.
“The gym teachers told us to go in the corner, so we all huddled,” one student told a local affiliate of the US network NBC. “And I kept hearing these booming noises. And we all … started crying.”
CNN anchor Wolf Blizter on Friday afternoon addressed the international cable network’s decision to use the children as sources in the story, saying its reporters only conducted interviews with children whose parents said it was okay.
“We do it only with their parents’ permission,” Blitzer told viewers.
Kelly McBride, a media ethics expert and a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute in Florida, told RIA Novosti on Friday that children can be valid sources for a story, but that reporters have an obligation to “mind their vulnerability.”
“And you should never interview a child under the age of 12 unless an adult is present,” McBride said.
McBride said one thing she noticed about television coverage of the tragedy was that most of the reporters did not know how to properly interview children.
“They’re asking them questions in a leading way,” she said. “Asking, ‘Was everyone screaming or crying?’ rather than, ‘What did you see? What did you hear?’”
McBride added however, that reporters should never interview a child who is too traumatized to talk.
“But you also shouldn’t discount children as valid sources if they are capable of sharing their information,” she said.
