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Dealing with the Media

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During a stressful time, dealing with the media may be overwhelming. Remember, as a crime victim, you have rights in dealing with the news media, including the right:

♦  To decline to give interviews, if you choose.
Even if you have given other interviews.
♦  To grieve in private.
Grief is a very personal matter. You have a right to ask reporters, photographers or others to leave during times of grief.
♦  To choose the time and place for interviews.
You may protect the privacy of you home by giving interviews elsewhere ...
♦  To choose your own spokesperson.
... or expressing your point of view through a written statement or a spokesperson.
♦  To request that offensive visuals be omitted from a story.
If you feel graphic photographs or visuals are not fair to you or your loved ones, you have a right to ask that they not be used.
♦  To exclude children from interviews.
Exposure to the media may re-traumatize children already traumatized by crime.
♦  To request a retraction of inaccurate reports.
If you feel reports are unbalanced or otherwise flawed, you have a right to offer your point of view or ask for a correction.
♦  To refuse to answer any inappropriate questions.
♦  To tell your story completely.
♦  To be treated with dignity and respect at all times.
PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS SOCIETY ETHICS CODE:
Journalists at all times will show respect for the dignity, privacy, rights and well-being of people encountered in the course of gathering and presenting the news. The news media must guard against invading a person's right to privacy. The media should not pander to morbid curiosity about details of vice and crime.
 
RADIO-TV NEWS DIRECTORS' ETHICS CODE:
Reject sensationalism or misleading emphasis in any form. Respect the dignity, privacy and well-being of people with whom they deal.
 

 
 
 

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