Chapter 13: Recommendations for the News Media Community

The recommendations below, which appear in the May 1998 New Directions
Report, have been reformatted for replication and distribution. 

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The news media play a significant role in public safety by providing important
information about the nature and the extent of crime occurring in communities,
and efforts to prevent crime and assist victims. Yet the news media also can
have a negative impact on individual lives when victims are thrust, often
unwillingly, into the limelight solely because of the crimes committed against
them. Inconsistent reporting and insensitivity to a victim's privacy compound
the drama of crime and often re-victimize the victim. To increase the news
media's awareness of victims' needs for sensitive treatment and respect of
privacy, the following recommendations are set forth by the field:

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1. The news media should adopt codes of ethics or guiding principles that
clearly delineate policies sensitive to and respectful of crime victims. These
guidelines should include policies that discourage the identification of victims of
sexual assault and other vulnerable victims, including children, without the
victim's consent.

2. News organizations, victims, and victim service providers should sponsor
frequent educational forums for journalists on sensitive media coverage of crime
and victimization. 


3. University departments of journalism should incorporate curricula that teach
students about sensitivity to victims in the news media's coverage of crime.

4. Victim service providers should receive education about media relations and
how to be a valuable resource for the press. Training and technical assistance
for service providers should be made available from professionals in the
journalism community. 

5. The victim service and mental health professions, in conjunction with media
representatives, should develop debriefing protocols to help journalists cope
with the trauma and stress of covering crime and victimization.

6. State public policy leaders and media representatives should explore the
development of legislation that would appropriately limit general public access
to confidential information about sensitive victims.

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