The media don’t publish information about every online child sexual abuse offence but people often tell us they’re worried about it when a loved one is arrested.
Court reporters attend criminal courts and may choose to cover any case. These reporters are overseen by the Independent Press Standards Organisation, adhering to clear reporting guidelines. They are permitted to report information presented in court about the criminal case, as long as the details are publicly available.
There are steps you can take to mitigate the impact of media coverage.
What to do
- You might want to think about whether to tell close family or friends if you’re worried they discover the situation through the media.
- For people under investigation and their families, we recommend temporarily deactivating social media accounts or adjusting privacy settings during sentencing hearings to minimise exposure to media coverage.
- If you are worried about potential targeting by people in the community, it’s advisable to get in touch with the police, who can assess the possibility of implementing added security measures.
What not to do
- Don’t look for similar cases covered by the media. It can be distressing and sentencing outcomes vary from case to case.
Case study about media involvement
I initially contacted the helpline following my arrest for viewing indecent images of children.
The arrest came as a shock for both me and my family, and I remember immediately worrying about the repercussions of my online behaviour. I was particularly worried about the media and how this could affect my family and friends.After a year of worrying, my fear came to life after one of my close friends informed me that they had seen my case reported in the local online newspaper. This was a few days after sentencing.
I am glad that I told my friend about my arrest, otherwise this would likely have shocked him. He informed me that some of the details were upsetting and advised me not to read the article. I decided to take onboard his advice, and this is a decision I would recommend other individuals to make as well. I also found it useful to not look at report of other people in a similar situation and to reduce how much I watched the news. I especially think this was helpful in the days after the media article had been published.
I had ensured I deleted all social media; this way it was harder for the media to find other images they could use of me and it would be more difficult for people to contact me.
Nonetheless, I was worried that other people would read the article and that me and my family members would be confronted in the street or at home. Luckily, this never happened and I am very
grateful for that. I wish I had lived my life a bit more normally as it caused me a lot more distressed worrying all the time for something that didn’t happen.
One thing I would say is that people are a lot more supportive than I originally thought. I did lose a
couple of friends, but the way I see it, these individuals weren’t really friends to begin with. I did tell a couple of people about my offending immediately after the arrest. I found that they were a lot less affected by the reporting as they already were aware of the situation. I would suggest being open and honest with the people you are closest to, so the report does not come as a surprise. It is a lot better that the information is coming from yourself rather than the news article. This way you are in control of the information they get and it’s not solely based on the information included in the media which doesn’t necessarily reflect all the details of your case.
I want to make people aware that media involvement is always a possibility even though the likelihood of it is not necessarily that high. If it happens, I hope some of the information given above will be helpful.