Nieman Reports

Children and Violence: The Witness. The Victim. The Accused

Winter 1998: Children and Violence Introduction

By Melissa Ludtke• Features• December 15, 1998

In this edition, we examine ways in which we report on children and violence. We travel to the sites of the five recent and highly publicized school shootings, then journey into the private realm of family violence, as seen through the eyes of children who witness it. From there, we move into courtrooms and juvenile detention centers, and also get a glimpse of adolescent girls’ increasing involvement with crime. Then, we take a look at how customary methods of coverage shape public perception and policymaking in the arena of child and juvenile crime. Finally, editors at Chicago’s two newspapers take us inside their decision-making when it comes to coverage of children and violence. Read more

School Shootings: National and Local Perspectives

Making Sense Out of a Tragedy

By John Schwartz• Covering Gun Violence• December 15, 1998

Don’t Report What You Don’t Know Read more

Restraint and Empathy Defined Reporting in Pearl, Mississippi

By Deborah Skipper• Covering Gun Violence• December 15, 1998

Pearl High School students pay homage to their fallen classmates during a candlelight memorial service held at Paul Truitt Memorial Baptist Church. Photo by Vickie King/The Clarion-Ledger. Reports of shootings at some inner-city … Read more

Context, Contacts and Accuracy Were Key in Paducah, Kentucky

By Jim Paxton• Covering Gun Violence• December 15, 1998

This photo of Michael Carneal was taken during an early court appearance. Photo courtesy of The Paducah Sun.No one had a hint of—and to this day even he cannot describe— the demons haunting … Read more

Voicing the Community’s Horror Worked Well in Jonesboro, Arkansas

By John W. Troutt Jr.• Covering Gun Violence• December 15, 1998

Tristan McGowan, an injured seventh grader from the Westside Middle School, is pushed from the hospital by his grandfather, Bill McGowaned, after being released from the St. Bernard’s Regional Medical Center. Photo by … Read more

The Freedom Forum’s Critique of The Sun’s Reporting on the Westside Shootings

Covering Gun Violence• December 15, 1998

Here are excerpts form the Freedom Forum critique. The Sun covered the story unblinkingly, in the best journalistic sense of that word. It’s coverage not only was thorough and fair but a virtual model … Read more

Sensitive Early Reporting Opened Up Good Leads in Edinboro, Pennsylvania

By Bob Lloyd• Covering Gun Violence• December 15, 1998

Students show their grief as the procession of slain teacher John Gillette leaves the McComb Field House on the campus of Edinboro University where an open memorial service was held. Photo by Rich … Read more

Giving Readers Ways to Heal and to Help in Springfield, Oregon

By Jim Godbold• Covering Gun Violence• December 15, 1998

Mourners at the memorial fence. Photo courtesy of The Register-Guard. May 21, 1998: It became The Day That Changed Everything. It changed everything we took for granted about what it means … Read more

When Children Witness Violence: What Happens Next?

Mapping Children’s Roadway to Violence: The Early Years

By Claudia Glenn Dowling• Features• December 15, 1998

“I went to Vermont and showed Ernie this story, as it appeared in the magazine. I started from the back and showed him the last picture with his mom. She’s playing … Read more

Interview with Photographer Donna Ferrato

Features• December 15, 1998

“This is, by far, the most powerful picture I’ve ever taken because it shows exactly how a child feels when they see their mother being beaten. “The boy is saying to his … Read more

Children’s Exposure to Violence

By Howard J. Osofsky and Joy D. Osofsky• Features• December 15, 1998

In therapy sessions, children use art to describe their lives. “Children in a Violent Society,” Edited by Joy D. Osofsky, The Guilford Press. Each year in our country at least three million children … Read more

Juveniles and Crime: The Courts. The Lock-up. And Girls.

Inside the Juvenile Justice System

By Jill Wolfson and John Hubner• Local News• December 15, 1998

Lifting the Veil of Secrecy Read more

The Courts and the Media: Improving the Dialogue

By The Honorable William J. O’Neil• Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 1998

Youngster at Wayne County Juvenile Justice Center in Detroit. Photo by Pauline Lubens/The Detroit Free Press. In ancient times, a coin was flipped to assist people in important decisions of life. It was … Read more

When Juveniles Are Locked Up

By Mary Hargrove• Local News• December 15, 1998

A Reporter Uncovers Abuse in a System Few People Know Exists Read more

Girls and Juvenile Violence

By Elizabeth Mehren• Features• December 15, 1998

Stories Rarely Told Read more

Media and Juvenile Violence: The Connecting Threads.

Media and Juvenile Violence: The Connecting Threads

By David Doi• Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 1998

There are some important lessons we’ve learned about how the coverage of violence—especially juvenile violence—influences the way many of us think about teenagers and crime. RELATED ARTICLE “What Numbers Can Tell … Read more

What Numbers Can Tell Us

Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 1998

336% = the percentage increase in coverage of homicide on NBC, ABC, and CBS nightly news between 1990 and 1995. During this time, homicide arrests dropped by 13%. 99% = the percent of violent deaths of children that occurred outside … Read more

The Violence Reporting Project:

By Jane Ellen Stevens• Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 1998

In 1995, Jane Ellen Stevens, a science writer, embarked on a collaborative project with Dr. Lori Dorfman, Director of the Berkeley Media Studies Group, a public health research organization, and Dr. Esther Thorson, a statistician and Associate Dean at the … Read more

Measuring the Effects of Changing the Way Violence Is Reported

By Esther Thorson and Lori Dorfman• Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 1998

Reporting on crime and violence has been a staple in the newspaper diet since before the pennycress. In that time, one by-product of this coverage has remained consistent: readers have been presented with distorted picture of the world. For example, … Read more

Youth and Race on Local TV News

By Katie Woodruff• Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 1998

Picture these scenes from two local TV news stories: A young pilot accepts the cheers of well-wishers as she completes a solo cross-country flight, becoming the youngest person ever to do this. A distraught young woman describes how a sniper … Read more

The Superpredator Script

By Franklin D. Gilliam Jr. and Shanto Iyengar• Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 1998

The funeral of a Boston youth. Photo by Stan Grossfeld. There is little doubt that television coverage contributes to the public hysteria about youth crime. In particular, local television news plays … Read more

Riding the Crime Wave

By Jerome Miller• Journalist’s Trade• December 15, 1998

Why Words We Use Matter So Much Read more

City Coverage of Juvenile Crime: THe View from Chicago

Parents’ Warning: Remember the Children.

By Nigel Wade• Local News• December 15, 1998

One of the first books I read when I was getting to know Chicago was Alex Kotlowitz’s “There Are No Children Here,” a vivid portrayal of the desperate lives of children growing up amid the violence of the city’s West … Read more

Editors’ Question: Do We Fail Our Children?

By Robert Blau• Local News• December 15, 1998

A street sign bearing his name stands near the pavement where he was slain, a monument to the seven-year-old boy who started a revolution in our newsroom. On the morning of October 13, 1992, Dantrell Davis was holding his mother’s … Read more

Nieman Reports

Winter 1998

Children and Violence

Children and Violence: The Witness. The Victim. The Accused

School Shootings: National and Local Perspectives

When Children Witness Violence: What Happens Next?

Juveniles and Crime: The Courts. The Lock-up. And Girls.

Media and Juvenile Violence: The Connecting Threads.

City Coverage of Juvenile Crime: THe View from Chicago

Truth and Reconciliation: Reporting the Horrors of Apartheid

Journalist's Trade

By Marc Linder

By Kari Huus

By Caitlin Anderson

Books

By John Herbers

By Thomas Winship

By Seth Effron

Letters to the Editor

Curator's Corner

By Bill Kovach

Nieman Notes

By Kenneth Freed

By Patricia S. Guthrie

Masthead