Children and the News (continued)

• On average, children watched 3 hours of TV news on the day of the attacks. Younger children ages 5 to 8 watched 1 hour or less and older teens ages 17 or 18 watched 5 hours or more. Only 8% did not watch any coverage on September 11th.
• One-third of parents (34%) limited their children's exposure to coverage of the terrorist attacks, especially for younger children and children who exhibited stress symptoms.
• Almost half of parents (47%) said their children expressed worry about their own safety or the safety of a loved one, and more than one-third (35%) reported their children experiencing one or more symptoms of stress, such as avoiding talking or hearing about the event, trouble concentrating or sleeping, being irritable or losing their tempers. Parents who did not restrict their children's TV viewing reported them having more stress symptoms the more TV they watched.
• Parents or another adult in the household talked about the attacks more with older children and with children who watched more TV coverage. Eighty-four percent of parents discussed the attacks with their children for one hour or more.

Guidelines for Journalists

Following are some suggestions for coverage of tragic or traumatic events, from experts at New York University's Child Study Center*:

• Provide a warning about graphic content
• Put the event in perspective by explaining the likelihood of such tragedies occurring in everyday life
• Provide information about what children and families can do to help others
• Limit size, amount and repetition of graphic content
• Limit use of intense graphics in news promotions or front pages
• Avoid eye-witness reports from those still openly grieving or in shock
• Describe safety measures to prevent future occurrences
• Limit replaying images on anniversaries, as children may re-experience fright

* Child Sensitive Media Coverage of Trauma and Tragedy, www.aboutourkids.org/articles/child_ sensitive_media.html

New York City Youth

Six months after the 9/11 attacks, the New York City Board of Education commissioned a major assessment of the mental health needs of New York City public school children in grades 4-12:

• Almost two-thirds (62%) said they spent a lot of their time and another third (33%) some of their time learning about the 9/11 attacks from TV; about 75% increased their newspaper and magazine reading and more than 30% accessed the Internet for more information.
• Among an estimated 10.5% (75,000) of students suffering from symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder six months after 9/11, including children who were not directly affected by the event, the prevalence of stress was higher among children who spent more time learning about the attacks from TV than children who spent less time.

Washington, DC Youth

• In the days following 9/11, more than 8 in 10 (85%) Washington, DC elementary school children indicated that their basic sense of security and safety was shaken by the terrorist attacks, which may be linked to their extensive viewing of TV coverage of the attacks.

How did children react to news coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing?

• Youth who watched a lot of bomb-related TV coverage were more likely to report posttraumatic stress, even if they did not see, hear or feel the explosion fi rst-hand or personally know someone injured or killed in the explosion.
• Youth who experienced the bombing largely through TV coverage reported trauma-related stress for over two years.

How did children react to news coverage of the 1991 Persian Gulf War?

• Roughly half (45%) of parents interviewed about their children's reactions to news stories about the Gulf War reported that the coverage had upset, disturbed or frightened their child.
• Younger children were more disturbed by visual images of planes dropping bombs and people dying, whereas older children and teens were more upset by abstract threats of terrorism and nuclear war or the possibility of the conflict spreading.
• The more coverage children watched, the more upset they were about the war and concerned for themselves and for people directly affected by the war. Girls and younger children were especially concerned about their personal safety.
• Boys and girls focused on different aspects of the war coverage. Boys watched more news stories about the background and technology of war, whereas girls were more interested in the human side of war and also avoided watching coverage more than boys.
• When asked why they watched the news during the Gulf War, 3rd-6th graders offered three main reasons: roughly one-third (33%) enjoyed the exciting aspects of the war such as bombing and shooting; one-quarter (26%) wanted to stay informed about the events of the war; and one-fi fth (20%) needed reassurance that everything was okay and the United States was winning.

Children's Experience with TV News in Times of Relative Peace

• Children of all ages watch the news, but older children, especially boys, are more likely to watch and they have a better understanding of the purpose of a news program and the news stories than younger children. Children who are older also are more likely to discuss news with their parents.

How does watching news usually affect children?