Documenting Pain

Scared Silent sounds a shocking alarm on child abuse

Coordinated programming by all three television networks and the Public Broadcasting System is usually reserved for momentous occasions or national emergencies. Thus it was telling that a documentary, Scared Silent: Exposing and Ending Child Abuse, was scheduled to air last weekend on all four outlets. CBS, NBC and PBS agreed to present the program simultaneously, with ABC showing it two nights later, thus avoiding the pre-emption of the popular 20/ 20. Narrated by talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, herself a victim, Scared Silent mirrors the conclusions of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, a federal panel (several of whose...

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