Psychiatric Implications of Media Ethics Code Policies Regarding the Publication of Child Abuse Victim Data: A Universal Deontological Model Code

Abstract

This article examines several assumptions in dozens of countries’ and private corporate and organizational media ethics codes regarding child victims and demonstrates that those generalizations are both false and how they increase child victims’ mental health problems. Finally, this article proposes a model universal media ethics code for reporting on child victims which is consistent with the psychiatric literature regarding that vulnerable population.