THE LATEST MIDDLE EAST STRIFE &
NEWS FOR CHILDREN
Producers of news for children are once again stepping up to help their young audience members, plus parents and teachers, navigate the latest horrific news.
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FRANCE:
MON QUOTIDIEN
L'ACTU
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LEBANON:
YOMYOM.COM
Planet News offered four videos on its francophone multimedia YomYom site to help its teenage audience decipher what it was seeing about the situation.
Ukraine WAr & News
FOR CHILDREN: updates
THE ORIGINAL STORY:
With war in Ukraine, editors help kids cope with scary news
Aralynn McMane, News Decoder, 25 February 2022 • Illustration: News-O-Matic reader Derin
Other related stories from News Decoder, a nonprofit educational news service based in France, include how Russia’s iinvasion of Ukraine threatens the global order that has spared us world war and insights from News Decoder correspondents about why especially young people should care about the situation there.
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A GLOBAL ART OUtREACH FOR LOVE AND PEACE
From Global Youth & News Media:
Inspired by Kleine Kinderzeitung of Austria and News-O-Matic of the USA (see below), editors all over the world are inviting children to submit art that wishes peace and love for the both children in Ukraine and those who have been able to get to safety.
You are an editor who is interested in participating? Let us know in the contact form at the bottom of this page.
And for News-O-Matic (USA), this is business as usual, as editor Russ Kahn reports.
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THE NETHERLANDS:
KIDSWEEK
NIEUWS
Journalist Judie Jaspers reports:
Izai (age 9) created an anti-war poster that now hangs in the windows of hundreds of homes in Zaandam.
The story (Google translated)
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AUSTRIA:
KLEINE KINDERZEITUNG
Editor Katrin Fischer reports:
Two teenagers from Graz set on a their mission to collect donation money for Ukraine.
They reached their goal: 10.000 €
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NoRWAY:
aFTENPOSTEN JUNIOR
Journalist Hanne Christiansen sheltered with 150 children and adults in Kyiv and reports about it in a 13-minute "Junior Explanation" podcast.
How did children and adults feel in the bomb room while the explosions exploded outside? And what did those who fled think?
The podcast (in Norwegian) and some background can be found HERE.
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FRANCE:
MON QUOTIDIEN
Journalist Laurence in Bucharest reports in Mon Quotidien:
Mădălina is hosting Ukrainian families in Bucharest, Romania. At the moment, there are three mothers and six children ages 7 to 10. with her She says they can stay as long as they like. PlayBac Presse, publishers of 3 dailies for children, is making this story (in French but easily translatable via Google Translate) freely available.
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GERMANY:
JULE
Director Thorsten Merkle reports:
He and Katja Spiegel from the team of Germany’s young readers initiative Jule discuss how reporting for children about crises has developed in recent years, including current coverage the war in Ukraine. Podcast in German.
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UNITED KINGDOM:
FIRST NEWS
Editor Russ Kahn reports:
Children got advide on 4 March about to judge questionable content about the war. Ukranian-Americans gave testimony in the 2 March edition about what it's like to have relatives living in Ukraine
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USA:
Pulitzer Center for
From the team:
A new lesson plan for students ages 13 and up offers activities to help put the Ukraine situation into context by exploring news resources.
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FRANCE:
Journal des Enfants
Editorial Manager Caroline Gaertner reports:
The latest edition made its key coverage about the Ukraine conflict free for parents and teachers. (In French)
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SINGAPORE:
STRAITS TIMES
Schools Editor Serene Luo reports:
- Use of visuals: Some heartbreaking visuals are coming out of Ukraine. And they are eye-catching to the young readers. But at the same time, I'm careful to make sure what we choose is age-appropriate and does not overly terrify or traumatise young readers, especially in a publication that is supposed to be a safe space for them.
- One of the things we're doing for our next publication is to ask young people what they want to know about the situation. We hope to use the feedback to shape our coverage.
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UNITED KINGDOM:
FIRST NEWS
Publishing Director Emma Robson reports:
The March 4 featured a Q&A with some questions from children. Already, First News has done a freely available expainer and updated its advice for talking to children about frightening news. [Also, these are good guides from The Week Jr. (UK) and News-O-Matic.]
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SLOVENIA:
SVO PUBLIC broadcaster
Editor Tina Antončič reports
Children are sending "a lot of questions" to the team at Infodrom, the children's news operation. "Most of them they are afraid that a war can come to Slovenia since we are only about 500 kilometers away from Ukraine."
Coverage has been contining since February 21. Next steps included filming Ukranians in Slovenia whose relatives back home could report via Skype about developments there.
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USA:
Washington Post
KidsPost Editor Christina Barron reports:
"KidsPost published the story on NATO because the organization has been mentioned repeatedly in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It can be difficult for kids to understand what role international organizations play, why they exist and why certain countries are members. Hopefully this story helps explain where NATO fits in to historical events and the war in Ukraine."
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AUSTRIA:
KLEINE
KINDERZEITUNG
Editor Katrin Fischer reports:
Coverage of the tension started in early February. By the time of the invastion, anxiety was rising among young people. "So this week we will continue with an article about "How to cope if the news is making you anxious?“ They used their website to cover breaking news in short and simple updates. The next questions set for answering as of 1 March were: What does protest mean? and When and why did we invent war? And the they later invited children all over Austria to submit art with a message of peace and love to appear in the print edition.
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FRANCE:
PlayBAC
From the 1 March edition (prepared 27 February, then printed and mailed.)
All three age-specific editions (Mon Petit Quotidien, Mon Quotidien and l'Actu) with Ukraine news could be freely downloaded and all 1 March editions had a call for questions readers could send themselves or helped by an adult. The 2 March edition explained seven terms (in French) connected to the invasion : Vladimir Poutine, Volodymyr Zelensky, oligarque, séparatiste, OTAN (NATO), espace aérien and dissuasion nucléaire.
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SWEDEN:
SVT public Broadcaster
Lilla Aktuellt Project Manager Josephine Hattevig reports:
We started a live chat Thursday morning (24 February). By the day after, we had 25 000 interactions – questions and comments from kids about the war in Ukraine.
Why are Russia doing this? Are we heading towards WW3? Will the war come to Sweden? Are common questions.
We’ve answered many questions and also had experts and psychologist answering.
Many are scared and want to debrief their feeling. There are also kids that have experienced war and also kids that have connections to Ukraine.
We continue with the live chat during the weekend together with a daily video update.
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USA:
New York Times
Editor Katherine Schulten and staff editor Natalie Proulx report:
The New York Times Learning Network has made freely available a lesson plan for secondary students. It also opened forum for teens to discuss the was had attracted nearly 500 comments by 2 March. Earlier, The Times offered advice for talking to children about Ukraine.
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CANADA:
TEACHING
KIDS NEWS
Editor Joyce Grant reports:
Here's the story we published on 25 February:
https://teachingkidsnews.com/2022/02/25/russia-invades-ukraine/
Also, I'm also using our social media feed to push out information to help teachers, parents and kids. For instance, the significance of using the term "Ukraine" (a country) vs. "the Ukraine" (merely a region of another country).
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DENMARK:
BøRNEAVISEN
Børneavisen Editor Louise Abildgaard Grøn reports (26 February):
To answer the children's many questions about Russia's attacks on Ukraine there is a freely available, online version of the latest edition at https://borneavisen.dk/ wiith several pages on the subject, including answers from Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Also, reporter Irene, 11, asked at press conference with the prime minister, the minister of foreign affairs and others whether children should be worried about the war in Denmark or a World War III.
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BRAZIL:
JOCA
Chief Editor Maria Carolina Cristianini reports:
We have been covering the conflict for some time, beginning with an 11 February explainer open to all about the background tensions. We will do another such story, also open to all, next week (the week of 14 March) and based on children’s questions.
Story in Portuguese, English.
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CANADA:
CBC PUBLIC BROADCASTER
Senior Producer Lisa Fender reports:
In the initial, comrehensive explainer, graphic designer Allison Cake created a moving map that truly put Ukraine into geographical perspective, both within Europe and also compared to the rest of the world and to Canada.
