Care ethics, child sexual abuse and journalism
Public discourse on child sexual abuse becomes most relevant when a community searches for answers and guidance, especially in times of crisis. In Chile, interdependence between public discourse and child sexual abuse trauma recovery has been clearly observed in recent years: when concepts are accurate, information is empowering and narratives are nurturing, they foster recovery for children victims and resilience within their communities; when misleading or inaccurate, public discourse can be damaging, even for adult survivors who have recovered, or have shown significant progress in their therapies.
Above other voices, Chilean mass media journalism has led the process of raising awareness and “telling the story” of child sexual abuse, since 2009. Nowadays, a growing number of citizens expect better moral decision making as well as responsible and sensitive coverage from journalists when reporting on crimes against children. The law and the media’s own ethical regulations have proven insufficient to grant protection to victims, their families, schools, and the communities that shelter sexually abused children and adolescents while healing. Updated legislation and public policy are necessary, along with new standards and more comprehensive guidelines for journalism in trauma.
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In less than a decade, Chile has bear witness to the overwhelming truth of child sexual abuse. Families, schools, and even the Catholic Church, have faded as the inviolable shelters we once thought them to be. UNICEF Chile and the National Observatory of Childhood have estimated that nearly 300,000 of our children (8-8.7%) are sexually abused. In the face of unspeakable damages, communities are not left intact.
The acknowledgement of failure in protecting our youngest from evitable tragedies such as child sexual abuse hurts us all. The injuries to the lives of children extend to their families, schools, neighborhoods, and harm is as vast as our disconcert. However, collective responsibility in the ethical care of our children should also mobilize us in solidarity and commitment to support the child victims, without forgetting the integrity of those who take care of them (who also deserve much respect and caring).
Trauma recovery is not an isolated process: it needs a relational context; what abuse takes away, the community can give back. Trust, human dignity, hope, are recovered by victims not in solitude, but in the company and support of others. The community needs to be enabled for sensible and sensitive action (in the best interest of young victims and of common good), not paralyzed, and in order to support recovery processes, understanding and guidance are needed. In our country, one of the fundamental sources for information and answers has been mass media journalism.
As human rights violations in our recent past, crimes against children have been made visible in Chile by mass media journalism, especially since 2009 when allegations against catholic priests were first made public. Since then, the need for an updated reflection upon social responsibility (beyond the duty to inform) has become more evident as the urgency imposed by news coverage and the public demand for information will often sacrifice the protection of child sexual abuse victims and of their communities. New standards, guidelines and frameworks are necessary.
Professionals who work in the field of childhood trauma as well as alert Chilean citizens have conveyed their observations, concerns, suggestions and sometimes desperate complaints about questionable journalistic practices to the National Council for Television, the Council of Ethics in the media, and sometimes to the justice system. Although regulations have been delivered and/or updated, and some television networks and newspapers have been admonished, human damages remain.
Too many times, the inaccurate or insensitive delivery of information about child sexual abuse symptoms, prevalence and consequences, has caused confusion and anguish in many communities, pain and more stigma for the victims, and resistance to disclose abuse in children and families who sometimes opt for silence and private efforts to assure recovery rather than assuming public exposure through the media.
The news headlines’ accelerated transition from “presumed sexual abuse” to “the rape of so many children” in less than a week, while investigations have not even taken place, has spread feelings of fear and collective helplessness, and affected the resilience of families and schools engaged in young victims’ recovery. The resonance of a disempowering public discourse and of negative perceptions has even a greater impact in children and adult survivors when news coverage, as we psychologists have observed, elicit recurring traumatic memories and emotional pain in our patients. Since the media use of trigger warnings does not exist in Chile, victims of all ages can be exposed to flashbacks, anxiety and panic crisis, on any given day.
A most concerning issue is the protection of the victims’ integrity. Complete files of ongoing trials have been shared by the media, in more than one opportunity. This is an inexcusable violation of legal principles of confidentiality, presumption of innocence, right to privacy and the protection of children victims’ identities.
The names of daycare centers, schools or protection residences have been exposed along with the names of parents, caretakers and/or educators of presumed victims, easily allowing identification of the minors regardless of the futile use of initials mandated by law. To make matters worse, psychological and medical evaluations of sexually abused children have been published without mercy or assessment of immediate and/or future repercussions for the victims’ lives. We cannot fail to remember that these are times when all information remains forever accessible via internet (at least until “a right to be forgotten” type measures are supported in all countries); it’s inescapable, and many victims grow into women and men perpetually haunted not only because of the videos (never found or recovered) that were made by their abusers during their childhoods: now, they are also haunted by internet and the availability of all kinds of private information and painful details about their sexual abuse, rapes, and trials.
Young children may not be in conditions to choose, but the ethical question remains when we think of preteens or teenagers and their right to choose or have a voice in decisions that affect them. I know young women whose parents decided to let them choose (for child sexual abuse crimes, the statute of limitations in Chile can be of 10 years, starting at 18yo) about their quest for justice. It can be debatable, but we cannot dismiss the unavoidable relationship between legal trials and press coverage, and the lack of guarantees in that that coverage will be conducted sensibly in the best interest of the sexual abuse victims’ protection at the present, while having in mind their future moral integrity.
Sadly, there are too many occasions when the parents, or the very professionals assisting the victims and their families (lawyers, psychologists, physicians, educators), will be responsible to expose them. I believe that just because people agree to be interviewed, does not mean they should be, at least not without a thorough consideration of consequences, and thoughtful and responsible guidance. Journalists could certainly play a role in guiding others, while carefully examining their own decisions on reporting and/or editing trauma coverage, either in the newsroom or before print (images and words, and their threading, will never be irrelevant).
The above are just a small number of examples to illustrate a reality that demands, in our country, special considerations and a different, updated ethical framework if the story to be told is about trauma, crime victims and the suffering of the most defenseless. The argument of freedom of speech and of information should not be incompatible or adversarial to the argument of ethical care, even less so when related to human tragedy and trauma.
We are grateful for what mass media journalism has accomplished so far, but we must be hopeful too in that this should be the time when journalistic practices and public discourse, as well as its contributions, could be definitely nurtured by an ethics of care approach. This approach could enact more thoughtfulness, empathy, compassion, encouragement, among other values, while reporting on child sexual abuse, and paths of recovery for its victims and the community. There are institutions willing to walk this path (Consejo Nacional de Televisión, Consejo de Ética de los medios de comunicación social), and there are plenty of citizens committed to engage in dialogues and collaborations that can provide our society with better regulations, guidelines, and resources to protect our children and trauma victims.
Child sexual abuse is far from being an unimaginable human possibility, or a prehistoric event that we could only bear from the shelter given by centuries afar. While we still grieve, grow and work to prevent these tragedies and to support the wounded in their healing, we may hold onto to the words of two wise women:
Dr. Judith Herman (known for her landmark work on incest and trauma recovery) long ago encouraged us to understand that “the solidarity of a group provides the strongest protection against terror and despair, and the strongest antidote to traumatic experience”. In five words, I have many times listened to Dr. Carol Gilligan (pioneer in the development of Care Ethics Theory) voicing the same ineludible, profound and hopeful truth: “We are in this together”.
Photo: Blinded by journalism