There is war not far from Germany. One wonders what should children know about it and what not? at Logo! this question is discussed daily. News presenter Tim Schreder says children “have a right to information in order to be able to make up their own minds”.
der Freitag: Herr Schreder, how do you explain war to children between the ages of eight and twelve, should you even do so?
Tim Schreder: we have at logo! developed a few principles over the years. The most important thing is not to hide things. If a topic, like the war in Ukraine, is happening everywhere, it’s better to report on it, and of course to talk about it at home, instead of pretending that none of it exists. Younger people are getting a lot out of it these days. That’s why it’s better to have something as a theme than to leave the children to themselves. We also make sure not to show any brutal pictures. Even with adult news, images can be disturbing, trigger the head cinema and frighten, but this is even more true for children. In order to understand the background, not every detail has to be shown.
Where do you draw the boundaries?
We often ask affected children how they are doing. For example, if a child says in an interview that it is afraid for mum or dad, we wouldn’t necessarily use such a quote because watching children can quickly relate something like that to themselves and get very scared.
What about a particularly sensitive issue, such as nuclear weapons?
That is not easy. Ever since Vladimir Putin brought up the topic of nuclear weapons, this word has been around and triggers fear in people of all ages. Adults can put that into perspective, but not necessarily children. Therefore, if in doubt, we would omit such theoretical worst-case scenarios for the time being and prefer to stick with what is, what is actually happening at the moment. But we have these discussions about what we can and want to say every day, the boundaries are not sharp and we have to weigh things up anew every day.
What if the discussion about nuclear weapons got louder?
We regularly do school visits and street surveys in which we ask children about current topics and their level of knowledge, there are also our social media channels, the e-mails and letters and the experiences of our editorial team, in which many have children. The target group is quite heterogeneous – the eight-year-olds are usually still very little on the go on their smartphones, while the twelve-year-olds often know a lot more. But we also look closely at where the information children are picking up, who they are following, what they are reading is coming from. When we realize that the topic moves children, then we can no longer avoid it. That’s why we’re declaring nuclear weapons today.
Tim Schrederborn in 1991, has been the moderator and reporter of the ZDF children’s news program since 2011 logo! on KiKA. He wrote the book with his colleague Jennifer Sieglar I do not understand the world anymore (Piper 2017), in which breaking news is explained in an entertaining way
With Vladimir Putin, a head of state is behaving in the wrong way – is there a risk that children will generally lose trust in role models or leaders?
It’s nothing new that powerful people do things that aren’t right. So children no longer necessarily assume that every head of state only does good. But you have to explain the differences, and we avoid using terms like “good” or “bad”. It is about a clear conflict, a war. The background can be made understandable to children, it is clear to them that it is not okay to attack a country. Children have a strong sense of justice.
Where do you get protagonists from so quickly, like the children with Ukrainian roots in the last few shows?
We belong to the ZDF news family, so we have access to all agencies, there is also an exchange of children’s news programs in Europe, and we are fortunate to be able to fall back on ZDF’s large network of correspondents. They all make contributions for us too, most of them very happy, by the way. We produce a lot ourselves – this week one of our reporters went to the Polish-Ukrainian border, he will spend several days there looking for stories and shooting reports.
Does this work force you into a parenting role, for example when your parents cannot or do not want to explain anything?
Our job is to educate, not educate. Children have a right to information in order to form their own opinion. Especially when it comes to difficult topics, we challenge you Logo! always encourage the children to talk about it with their parents or teachers. The combination is important. Years ago, after an accident that we reported on, an affected family later told us that after the accident they regularly logo! watched and that it helped them a lot: They found a neutral explanation in the show that was not so emotionally charged.
What about an issue like sexual abuse?
That is extremely sensitive, since children can also sit in front of the television who are affected, who perhaps were not even aware of it up to the point in time. If in doubt, we will consult with child psychologists and therapists. But it also means that parents have a say in how much and what children watch. The bottom line is that how much war coverage is appropriate is the responsibility of the parents. Serves for this purpose logo! the topic preview – so parents watching along can decide what is reasonable.
Are many parents watching?
Half of the viewers are parents! Lots of people look in the media library, eight to twelve year olds often don’t look it alone. Also in schools logo! watched.
If there’s abuse or violence, you probably do an assessment too, don’t you?
We encourage children on all issues where children could be victims of something, including bullying for example. We offer help, give tips on what to do. Otherwise we are a neutral, as objective as possible news program, but of course we see ourselves as advocates for children when it comes to children’s rights.
Is it easy to persuade politicians to give an interview?
They have to do it, we are a children’s news program, the politicians are already aware of that. But it’s easier for some than others, and it’s the same for experts: some can easily move to a simpler level of explanation, others can’t. Some people enjoy it, others just see it as an election campaign date.
Can you campaign with “logo!”?
In the interviews with child reporters, the interviewees always try to please the families and children. Incidentally, adults like to watch these interviews because you get to know politicians from a completely different side.