Improve Disclosure of Child Abuse-Related Fatalities
Reports from several states indicate that hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of abuse-related child deaths went unreported to the federal government. An AssociatedPress investigation revealed that 17 states decided not to provide the federal government with information regarding how many children had died from child abuse after they had been taken from their homes and reunited with their families within a few years as well as other important pieces of information. Current laws make reporting such deaths to the federal government voluntary and allow the deaths of many abused children to get swept under the rug.
This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.
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