For adults, the news can be shocking. But our life experience enables us to mentally file it away in the “Very sad but doesn’t affect me” box or the “Not this again!” box. For children trying to make sense of the world, the news can be desperately alarming. I was not surprised at all to learn about the rise in calls to ChildLine from children feeling anxious about events in the news.
While many of us would like to wrap up our children in cotton wool and shield them from the wider world, sadly that horse has already bolted. We are surrounded by news. There are 24/7 news channels, radio, newspapers, the internet and smartphones (the average age kids get their first phone is seven and a half). The world is at their fingertips. Even if you have done a great job of activating all the parental controls (and your tech-savvy offspring hasn’t simply switched them off again), chances are that bad stuff in the news will be the talk of the playground. As a parent, or grandparent, it is almost impossible to censor the stories that reach your child, or gauge how they are interpreted.
It’s misinformation that is the problem – be it half a story from a friend at school, or a sensationalised headline, or an inaccurate report. As the responsible adults in their lives, we need to be sure that they are getting accurate, impartial information, which is written for them and doesn’t sensationalise or scaremonger. It needs to be truthful yet reassuring.
That’s where First News comes in. We don’t shy away from reporting a story because we know children will have heard about it anyway. A note on this: be careful about your own casual conversations in front of children. A throwaway comment among adults in the car about how Donald Trump being elected as president could result in world war three, or that Brexit will bring Britain to its knees, could silently terrify those in the backseat for weeks. Far better to discuss these issues with your children and give them a chance to talk about their worries. That way you can reassure them.
Last year we surveyed more than 2,000 children and they said that their single biggest fear was terrorism. It is desperately sad that they should be so troubled by the threat, even when the statistics show that it is highly unlikely to impact on most of our lives. We point out that kind of stuff.
First News covers all the major headlines that we know children are hearing about. We have a daily bulletin on our new online channel and two-minute explainer videos called I Don’t Get It!, covering topics such as the migrant crisis, the Zika virus and Islamic State. The newspaper, which comes out every Friday, addresses every story head on. We tell the truth in everything that we do, but we don’t scaremonger, sparing the graphic details where they are unnecessary.
We always put the story in context, explaining the background. And we point out that stories are often only in the news because they are rare, and that our everyday lives are barely ever touched by such events. For instance, after the Paris attacks, we highlighted the fact that the chances of actually being caught up in such violence are incalculably small. After a plane crash, we remind readers that, at any one moment, half a million people are criss-crossing the skies in thousands of planes that take off and land safely.
Unlike many other news sources, First News is really careful to ensure our coverage is balanced. We make sure we carry a plethora of positive and uplifting stories. Good news is news, too. The fact is that there is far more good in the world than bad, and it is our responsibility to report that – and not just for children – for the mental health of the nation.
Nobody wants to read or watch the news and feel thoroughly depressed about the planet we live on. Most people are decent and kind – we never forget to tell children that.