Can You Publish This?

You will be able toWhen do public interest, privacy and safeguarding pull in different directions?

Case opening

What do you know?

A journalist has an interview with a survivor, a police statistic, a photograph outside a recognisable school and a quote naming a small community.

First decision

Choose and justify before opening the debrief.

Publish everything because the survivor agreed to interviewSeparate legal restriction, identification risk, source strength and public-interest value; remove details that create avoidable harmUse the community name in the headline to make the story specificTreat the police statistic as prevalence

Choose the reason that best supports your decision.It prioritises immediate safety, evidence and role boundaries without unsafe family contact.It produces the fastest final conclusion, even if evidence is incomplete.It transfers responsibility to family or community members.

Optional reflection: what is known, reported, inferred, assumed or unknown? Free text is not used to unlock the debrief.

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