Service to help media cover childhood issues

Psychologists launch a news service with hopes of getting the media to cover more child-development issues.

By Beth Azar
Monitor staff

Journalists will soon have a new, research-based resource for stories on children and families. Later this fall, faculty at Tufts University?s Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development will launch Children and Media Educational Outreach (CAMEO) Feature News, which will provide journalists with ideas, references and contacts for news and feature stories related to children and families, free of charge.

Personal stories?from a teen mother putting herself through college, to the struggles of a young illiterate girl or a family with a disabled child?are the cornerstone of CAMEO, which links real-life with child development theories, research and practice, says psychologist Fred Rothbaum, PhD, who developed CAMEO along with project director Nancy Martland.

'Although there are some inspiring examples of in-depth, thoughtful reporting by some news outlets, my colleagues and I have grown frustrated with shallow reporting on children?s issues that the majority of popular press outlets present,' says Rothbaum.

He and Martland, with the support of the Eliot-Pearson faculty, decided to provide journalists the resources to produce more in-depth, scientifically sound stories. The CAMEO staff?largely student volunteers and faculty advisors?package feature story ideas with descriptions of up-to-date research and lists of experts. Once CAMEO is in full operation this fall, staff will post a new batch of about 10 story ideas on its web page every two months.

Each CAMEO story idea will fall into one of five main themes that Rothbaum and Martland are still working out but that might include children and violence, family change, child health, child poverty and educational initiatives. Each theme will contain sections on story ideas, personal accounts, expert contacts, relevant programs, background information and related media coverage. Journalists can use CAMEO ideas as they appear or as the basis for their own unique stories, says Martland.

Rothbaum and Martland asked 12 New England-based reporters to evaluate a CAMEO prototype (which is still up on the CAMEO web site, http://www.jumbohub. com/cameo ) and received high scores along with some suggestions for improvement that they are working to implement.

'All I can say is: Wow! I?m very impressed and excited by where you folks are doing with CAMEO,' wrote Concord [New Hampshire] Monitor staff writer Steve Varnum in an unsolicited comment. 'Reporters spend a lot of time scrambling for the right source with the right statistics and the right ?big picture outlook.? Your references put all of the above at our fingertips.'

Providing context

The CAMEO staff has used the past three years to develop the service and determine what journalists want. The key, say their journalist consultants, is to make sure every idea relates to current events and trends.

In that way, CAMEO will not only be an excellent resource for feature ideas, but reporters will also be able to weave the information provided on the CAMEO web site into breaking news stories, says Katy Abel, a reporter with NBC affiliate WHDH-TV in Boston, who has served as a consultant for CAMEO.

Rothbaum and Martland hope to market the product so newsrooms automatically refer to the service for any story involving children.

'CAMEO does not have the capacity to react to breaking news stories at present,' admits Martland, a doctoral student in child development at Tufts, who oversees 10 to 12 student volunteers each semester. Instead, the service can become an easy-access resource on child-development issues, such as violence or childcare, which could provide balanced background or sidebar ideas for use in the event of another high-profile story like the recent youth shootings or the British nanny case.

'And as our database increases, we can become more responsive to journalists? queries regarding breaking news,' Martland says.

How researchers can help

Before posting a story idea, CAMEO staff will enlist the support of researchers and other experts willing to act as contacts. The experts will receive a general outline of topics reporters may call them about with enough time to prepare for a media interview.

'Researchers have grown frustrated with being thrust into reactive mode when called by journalists for comments on some breaking news story,' says Rothbaum. 'The journalists tend to be interested in a sound bite. CAMEO can help researchers impact media coverage proactively.'

Getting researchers and other experts to participate in CAMEO can be a challenge, says Martland. Some experts understand immediately the value of talking to reporters, while others fear being misquoted or being quoted out of context.

'I find that some experts have more or less difficulty grasping the concept [of CAMEO],' says Martland. But once they realize that the service is designed to improve media coverage of important issues, many become interested in helping.

An advisory council of researchers and journalists will help CAMEO meet the needs of the media while insuring high quality, says Rothbaum. At press time, eminent child development researchers David Elkind, PhD, of Tufts, and Edward Zigler, PhD, of Yale University, had agreed to sit on the council.

Tufts has funded CAMEO through next spring. By then, Rothbaum hopes to have permanent funding from nonprofit foundations. His long-range plan is to help other colleges and universities open regional CAMEO bureaus around the country.

'The personal accounts will be tailored to local interests, but the overall themes will have national appeal,' says Rothbaum.

Rothbaum hopes that CAMEO can serve as a model for other branches of psychology interested in improving the scientific underpinnings of media coverage of social issues, he says.

'Everyone complains about media coverage,' says National Public Radio?s Tovia Smith, another CAMEO consultant. 'At least these guys are finally doing something about it.'

To find out more about CAMEO or submit story ideas, visit the CAMEO web page at http://www.jumbohub.com/cameo or send e-mail.