SA: Distressing bushfire footage could traumatise children

AAP General News (Australia)
02-15-2009
SA: Distressing bushfire footage could traumatise children

By Larine Statham

ADELAIDE, Feb 15 AAP - Children repeatedly exposed to dramatic television footage of
the Victorian bushfires could be just as traumatised as those directly affected, experts
say.

Australian Council for Children and the Media president Jane Roberts said the deaths
of 181 people in Australia's worst ever natural disaster acted as a timely supervision
reminder to parents.

Their children might be struggling to cope with distressing images being shown on televisions
across the country.

Ms Roberts warned it was not just the children directly affected by the bushfires who
were likely to suffer trauma.

"While the media are rightly providing full coverage of this tragedy ... many children
who live in areas unaffected by the bushfires could become quite anxious and distressed
if they are repeatedly exposed to some of the dramatic footage being shown on television
news and current affairs programs," she said.

Glenn Cupit, a senior lecturer in child development at the University of South Australia
(UniSA), said it was young children in particular who were vulnerable to scary visual
images.

"When certain footage is repeated many times, they are likely to think the event is
actually happening over and over again," he said.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) lecturer in journalism Susan Hetherington
said findings outlined in her masters thesis "Little Brother is Watching You" supported
Dr Cupit's point.

Ms Hetherington said children who watched events such as the September 11 World Trade
Center disaster were unable to understand that it was the same footage being shown repeatedly,
but rather thought that each time they saw the image it was another plane and another
building.

"Some of the studies show that children, who for example watched a whole lot of September
11 coverage out of the States, had similar post traumatic stress reactions to those children
who had been directly impacted by it," she told AAP.

"Some children have trouble separating what they see on television from reality, even
if they know it's not happening to them they can't necessarily put it in context of the
likelihood that it's going to happen to them.

"Next time they see fire, they've seen what fire can do and they make this loop."

Ms Hetherington said children who were traumatised had often displayed aggressive behaviour,
tantrums and bed wetting.

She said she understood some parents wanted their children to retain their innocence
for as long as possible, while others often said they did not want to wrap their children
in cotton wool to protect them from knowing about the bad things that happen across the
world.

"Either way, parents just need to make a conscious decision and not just have (the
television) on by default in the background and think they'll be all right," she said.

With many families leaving the television on while preparing dinner, Ms Hetherington
said it was incorrect for parents to think their children were not absorbing what was
on the television.

"The key is that they shouldn't be watching it by themselves and if we can sit down
with our kids and explain it to them, often we can use it as a learning experience to
say this is why Mum and Dad say don't play with matches and this is why we need to have
a fire escape plan in the house.

"As parents, we have to take responsibility for what our children see on television."

Ms Hetherington said news organisations also needed to be conscious of the timing footage
was being shown on the television.

"As parents we can choose not to let our children watch the news at six o'clock, but
the problem comes ... when the same footage is being shown in the promos during the afternoon
cartoons and kids shows.

"The ABC has taken a leadership role in this and abandoned running news updates during
the kids programs."

While news programs are currently exempt from family viewing time classification regulations,
Ms Hetherington said some news organisations claimed they still ethically saved particularly
emotive images for late night editions.

"I'm not completely convinced," she said.

"I think it's an exemption that shouldn't be taken lightly."

With news organisations also balancing a responsibility to inform the public using
the most up to date information and footage, Dr Cupit said older children were more likely
to be upset by a wider range of images, especially when the people directly affected look
just like them and their families.

"Stories of children being injured or separated from their parents, the death of family
pets and interviews with emotionally distraught or shocked adults and children can make
their world feel more unsafe than it really is," he said.

Ms Hetherington suggested that if children were able to feel as though they were part
of the solution, they would in all likelihood feel better about what they were seeing.

"Kids can feel fairly powerless ... so you know, let's give some of your pocket money,
or some of your clothes," she said.

"It gives them a sense of control in doing something and being able to help."

Ms Roberts said parents wanting to know more about the effects of traumatic images
on their children or the responsibility of television stations should contact Young Media
Australia.

AAP lcs/it/de

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC TV (AAP NEWSFEATURE)

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