When a reporter comes across a sexual abuse case that involves an institution or organization, be aware that there is likely much more to uncover. Regard these as detective stories: How many victims were there? Who knew? How long did the abuse last? What did the organization or institution do about it? Does the institution have policies about sexual violence? Were employees aware of these policies? Were the policies followed? Did anyone try to do anything to stop the violence? What happened to people who spoke up? What is the culture of the organization? Does the organization do anything to educate employees and volunteers about sexual violence?
When reporting a story that has more than one victim, carefully document every bit of information found along the way. Keep asking questions such as “Who else might know this?” or “What other evidence might there be?”
Different groups may need to be approached in different ways. Try to understand the culture of the organization. Find out who should have been doing something about these issues and why the system failed.
Look for red flags. Organizations facing allegations of sexual abuse often try to settle the issues out of court, move employees to new positions or fire workers who know anything about the problem (usually after having them sign non-disclosure agreements). Dig. Look for employees who faced some kind of discipline for their actions. Seek out former employees, who are often good sources for information on what a company or organization is like and its internal personnel structure and culture. Be alert for anything anyone mentions that was out of the ordinary.
Schedule your interview with the organization only after you have done a significant amount of reporting and have information to verify, issues to raise, and questions that you know need answers. Start the interview without assumptions, but don’t be afraid to go into troubling areas of conversation in your attempt to get to the bottom of what happened when. Make your questions as specific as possible, but don’t feel compelled to fill all of the space with questions. Organizational representatives, especially when being questioned about a difficult subject, will often feel the need to say something to fill any silence; that can lead to spontaneous or revealing comments.
Taken from Reporting on Sexual Violence, a self-directed course developed in partnership with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center at Poynter NewsU.
