A television program titled ‘Protecting Our Children,’ which was created to raise awareness of child abuse, will air on Syracuse news stations Wednesday evening.

The program comes in response to allegations of child sexual abuse against former Syracuse University associate men’s basketball coach Bernie Fine and former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Local television and radio programs, with the help of the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center, collaborated to create a program that would encourage continued conversation on the issue of child abuse.

Julie Cecile, executive director of McMahon/Ryan, said officials decided the program would air this month because April is Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.

‘For the last five months, all the TV and radio stations have been planning this one-hour special,’ Cecile said. ‘It’s been really neat to watch the collaboration. They’ve put competitiveness aside. I watched the package this morning, and it’s a really great package.’

Theresa Underwood, vice president and general manager at WSYR-TV, said this is the first time in nearly 20 years since the Syracuse media has come together to collaborate on a project like this. She said the media outlets came together when child abuse became both a national and local issue.

‘What we wanted to do is think of how we could use the strength of our respective mediums to do a better job enlightening our community, serving our community,’ Underwood said.

The program will address the role of reporters; how citizens can report abuse on a hotline; what goes into investigating a case of child abuse, such as interviewing victims; and what the McMahon/Ryan center looks like through the eyes of a child, Cecile said.

Additionally, the program will feature survivors of sex abuse and an interview with a sex offender. Cecile said this was ‘enlightening and sickening in the same way.’

Cecile said she felt the collaboration of the broadcast community illustrated the sense of community throughout Syracuse as a whole.

Underwood said she recommends every person in Central New York watch the program because child sex abuse is something that affects everyone.

‘The statistics that have come out since these two scandals have come to light are staggering. Every single person can make a difference,’ Underwood said.

‘Protecting Our Children’ will be broadcast on eight television stations, two radio stations and three websites, according to an article published in The Post-Standard on Monday.

The program is set to air at 6 p.m. on WCNY-TV; 7 p.m. on WTVH-TV, WSTM-TV, WSTQ-TV, WSYR-TV, YNN-TV, WSYR-Radio, WHEN-Radio, 9wsyr.com, CNYcentral.com and ynn.com; 11 p.m. on WNYS-TV; and midnight on WSYT-TV, according to the article.

‘I’m very proud of this collaboration because the information is very important and the fact that we will be able to put a show on the air that will be virtually impossible to ignore is really important,’ Underwood said.

cffabris@syr.edu 

Published on April 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Casey: cffabris@syr.edu | @caseyfabris