CHAPTER ONE Sometimes Scary Things Happen Reporters let people know what is happening in the world They tell news stories about things in your town your state your country and also things that are very far away There are a lot of ways that they let people know what they have found out Some reporters write down what they have learned in a newspaper magazine or online Others make reports on the radio or on TV 6
Where do your parents usually find out what’s happening You may think that just knowing what happened is all that reporters do but sometimes that’s not enough information Investigative reporters look further into things that happen to learn more about who the people involved are what happened before what might happen later and whether anything like this ever happened before 7
Sometimes the stories that reporters tell are scary When bad things happen it’s important that reporters let adults know about them They might first hear about it from the news on TV the radio the internet or a newspaper Once some people hear about it the news starts to spread They start telling other people about it They tell people near them and they call or text friends and family farther away to tell them what they’ve heard Pretty soon lots of adults start watching the TV listening to the radio or looking for information on the internet and talking about what happened 8
Lilly and Ben just finished dinner and their mom and dad turn on the TV news The news person is standing in front of a big glass door and ambulances and flashing lights are all around her Mom says Sorry kids we can’t play right now Dad and I need to listen carefully Then Mom grabs her phone to call Grandma Dad goes on the computer to look things up They look very worried Lilly and Ben feel worried too 9
