Editors of news for children are stepping up to put the latest scary news out of the Middle East into perspective with the facts, context and hope, all in very careful doses.
FACTS & CONTEXT – Bulgaria’s online Vijte runs a regular “What adults are talking about” feature that offers extensive background for upsetting stories they know children can’t avoid. Such stories always start with the question children are asking, in this case “What is happening in Iran?”
KidsWeek, which comes out later this week to serve Dutch children, will treat the attack in ways “similar to what we normally do in our news coverage of complex and scary news: In understandable key points, we will explain what had happened day to day and why,” says editor Henrike van Gelder.
Because “transparency is key, as always” they will “add a piece about how to weigh the facts that come to us from places in war: How do you select the news sources? Which to believe and which to discard?”
France’s daily print edition Mon Quotidien relies on the day’s child editor to set the agenda for that day’s coverage. In this case, 11-year-old Raphaël was able to give the story a personal angle by reporting about his aunt and uncle who had to shelter in their basement when the Palm Hotel next door was bombed in Dubai.
These editors strive hard for balance in the context. News-O-matic, a French-owned global outlet and learning resource based in the United States, showed two equivalent photos that spotlighted a single woman in a crowd holding one or more flags: an Iranian woman holding her country’s flag with the caption “ Many people in Tehran, Iran, were upset about the attack” and a demonstrator in California with Iranian and American flags with the caption: “These people in Los Angeles, California, supported a change of power in Iran.”
Editors also offer definitions of unfamiliar words, and Bulgaria’s Vijte goes even further by gamifying key facts, in this case giving children points in its ongoing competition for knowing “Who are the main parties in the Middle East conflict?”
HOPE & REACTION -This time, hope comes in the form of knowing the bombs are far away. For example, Časoris interviewed one of the country’s defense experts who helped dispel fears that bombs would drop on Slovenia. The UK-based Mizújság for Hungarian children put that sentiment in a graphic.
These editors tend to offer a next step for action. News-O-Matic, which is based in the USA and owned by the French company Bayard, ran its story in English and Arabic, offers children an app for drawings to show their reactions, such as the “No Nuclear Weapons” included here. Časoris ends such stories with questions for especially teachers to discuss with children.