We need to encourage the press to stop reporting the revolting minutae of child abuse.

[theressomethingaboutmarie]

There was an article in the DM recently about a 'man' who had been abusing a 13 y/o girl but because she had apparently seduced him, he wasn't prosecuted. The guy was quite obviously a paedophile as he had been downloading child porn (I hate that term). Why oh why, did the DM feel the need to report the details of what he had downloaded? I only caught a bit of the article having unintentionally clicked on it but what I caught makes me feel sick. Why do we need to know?

Well I am not sure to be honest.
I think when what happened is sensationalised it is a bad thing. But I think if you make what happens to children an unspoken thing, you end up with really stupid naive notions.
I know grown adults who think that the limit of child abuse is a swimming instructor trying to grope a child in the pool. Society tends to minimize or sensationalise.
I also needed to know when I was younger. It helped me to know that I was not the only one. Selfish as that sounds.

I think if you are upset then perhaps you should avoid anything around that subject.

we need to know

my dd has being going to a nice family for sleepovers,regularly since the girls met in middle school

someone who stays there every weekend was caught 2 weeks ago 9by dd and the other girl).....he had planted his phone in the bathroom and was filming them in the shower!!!!

how long had this been going on? how much film had he got and of how many innocent sleepover guests/family members? what has he done with previous footage? is my daughters image sold to other paedophiles? has he downloaded her all over the internet??

wont know til june...try living with that knowledge,or lack of!!

everyone needs to think twice before letting their dc go on these endless sleepovers.....could happen to anyone

I know exactly what you mean mary. I'm the same with any cruelty cases, be it children, animals, elderly. It's not that we want these these things to remain unspoken/unreported...God forbid. Just that we don't need to "pick through the bones of it" for want of a better phrase.

Ah. Well if the article in question was salacious then that is bad.

Trouble is if you censor content without taking account of tine and intent, it will inhibit good journalism.
Perhaps people should complain about individual articles.
It is difficult

is there a link?

glad you raised this. I am a reporter and over the years have noticed increasingly graphic reporting of details in abuse cases that has seemed to be titilating to me. Needs to be brought to attention of Society of Editors and the NUJ who have codes of practice. I dunno how much experience general public has of what is said in court but I notice that a massive amount of details is left out of murder reporting, for example, for sake of decency. Unless there's a sexual element. Really interesting point

i think perhaps a warning before the details. i think people do need to know about what has happened, but its very hard to hear it and more care should be taken not to cross the line too much or to at least seriously warn people of what they are about to read. unfortunately the world can be hiddeous with all the terrible things that happen, but there are sensitive people who can be disturbed by things they see and read, and that is damaging too, thats furthering the damage already done. it is a difficult one. people need to both be informed and some protected. some people can take reading stuff easier than others can stomach it. but its worrying if its tittlating like some have said-which may mean some people are enjoying it!! i also think that people could get ideas for things if too many details are exposed, there should be a line really.