Covering Kids p.9

By: David Astor

Children's advocacy group head says many newspapers are
devoting too much space to stories about youth violence sp.

THE HEAD OF a children's advocacy group believes many newspapers are devoting too much space to stories about youth violence.
Children Now president and founder James Steyer said his Oakland, Calif.-based organization conducted research earlier this year, which revealed that 40% of stories about kids focus on them as perpetrators or victims of crimes.
By comparison, 4% of the stories were about the economic needs of children and 2% were about children's health care policy.
"When I talk about these figures with members of the press, the most common response I get is, 'We're just reporting reality,' " Steyer told attendees at the recent American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors convention in Seattle. "But is 40% of what we need to know about kids in our society that they are often the victims or perpetrators of crimes? Probably not.
"Let me give you a few figures that may be revealing. In 1991, 960,000 children were victims of violent crimes, while 8.3 million children were without any form of health insurance."
By putting so much emphasis on youth violence, Steyer said, newspapers are depressing and scaring kids and adults alike ? and giving youngsters fewer positive role models.
"Youngsters surveyed said they want more stories about children doing good things," he stated.
Steyer acknowledged that youth violence is a major story that should be covered, but he said it should be covered differently. To this end, he offered several suggestions:
? Talk to kids often, consulting them about your coverage as well as including them in your stories.
? Always put stories about kids and crime and violence in context. What is the overall rate for that kind of crime? Is it going up or down or staying relatively steady?
? Get behind the robbery or drive-by shooting. Explore the complexities and the causes.
? Relate your stories to public policy as often as you can. Draw the link to pending legislation or budget decisions on both prevention and punishment.
? Talk about solutions and the obstacles to those solutions.
? Don't forget about all the other issues that affect children's lives.
One editor in the audience observed that newspaper feature sections tend to do more positive stories about youths than do news sections.
And at least some newspapers have made extraordinary efforts to cover youth violence in solution-oriented and in-depth ways. Editors from four of these papers followed Steyer to the podium to discuss their efforts:
Chicago Tribune managing editor Richard Ciccone talked about his paper's 1993 series of front-page stories about all the youngsters who were murdered in the city. These articles contained both hard-news and human-interest elements.
Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel features editor Marcia Werts discussed her paper's ongoing series of special sections on youth violence, which will ultimately involve about 90% of the staff.
Arizona Republic's Amy Carlile, assistant managing editor/technology and new products strategy, talked about her paper's "Saving Arizona's Children" effort, which includes stories, corporate giving for kids' programs and a volunteer hotline.
And Detroit Free Press associate editor for change Ann Olson discussed the various aspects of her paper's "Children First" program. The Free Press has run numerous stories, encouraged its staffers to volunteer as tutors in public schools, raised money for kids' charities and worked to expand the pro bono pool of attorneys available to help disadvantaged children.
Steyer, who praised the work of these newspapers, is a former civil rights lawyer who lectures at Stanford University and works as a volunteer teacher at an East Oakland elementary school. The Children Now head has discussed kids' issues on TV shows (such as "Oprah") and in magazine and newspaper articles.
The three-hour symposium on youth violence was organized by Mike Smith, who is consulting editor at Knight-Ridder Newspapers and assistant director of the Newspaper Management Center at Northwestern University.
Also speaking was Portland Oregonian managing editor Peter Bhatia, who said of America's children and their problems: "I don't think there's a more vital issue today."