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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Linda Ellerbee

Aired March 09, 2003 - 17:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: As the crisis with Iraq occupies the minds of many Americans, not even the American children can keep from thinking about the possibility of war. Today's media savvy kids can't escape news coverage of the escalating conflict. And after the traumatic events of September 11, it's almost impossible for them to ignore. Award-winning journalist Linda Ellerbee gives some American kids a chance to talk about it all in a special airing tonight on Nickelodeon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA ELLERBEE, JOURNALIST: Are you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think whether you're for the war or not, most of the people in the United States and all around the world are scared.

ELLERBEE: Is there anything that we grownups can say to you to make you feel less scared, make you feel more comfortable?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we're all at the age where we're not little kids anymore. We shouldn't be treated like little kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe we're not eighteen yet. We won't be able to vote for these things, but the more we talk about it, the more we know what's going on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In terms of going to war, I'm not scared at all. America has the greatest army, and we've got a lot of great and strong allies to back us up, well, Britain. So, I think that we are well equipped to face Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that we can't just sit and let the issue sit, and things will get more tense and tense and tense.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, we need to make the decision to go over there and get -- get him, because if we're just sitting here thinking about it, nothing is going to happen, and it will make it worse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Smart, expressive kids. Earlier I had a chance to talk with Linda Ellerbee about her Nick News special, "Kids Talk Iraq."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLERBEE: It seemed to us that things were pretty much in place. The weapons inspectors had made their report to the U.N., Colin Powell had made his. The troops are pretty much over there. And we knew that kids would have an easier time talking about their opinions before the war started. And since everybody else in the world has weighed in on this issue, we thought why not let kids speak about it too. After all, citizenship doesn't begin when you're 18.

WHITFIELD: And kids have a lot of questions about this, didn't they? What were some of the questions that a lot of the young people were asking about how to understand these very complexities of a war with Iraq?

ELLERBEE: Well, we explained to them how we got to this point in history. And then we asked them questions more often than not, we talked about what is a just war, do you always have to wait for the bad guys to strike first? Can you be a patriot and be against the war? What do you think should happen now? We talked about the U.N. resolutions. We talked about -- because they know about these things. We don't live today in an age where kids can -- the kids on our set, by the way, are 10-14 years old.

And it's not like they don't know about these things. They do know and, in fact, that's why we did the show. When the noise of a story gets so big that kids can't avoid it, we give them a place and give them a voice, because we always encourage parents to watch these shows with their kids, because we know that sometimes kids don't know how to bring the subject up to their parents, and sometimes we parents don't know how to bring it up to kids. So these shows are good starting places.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder because there are an awful lot of parents who are trying very hard not to talk to their kids about war, about Iraq because they don't want them to be frightened, or maybe they don't want them to become prejudiced. Is your advice that, you know, this is a way in which to open up some conversations?

ELLERBEE: This is a very good way to open up conversations. And you always have to keep in mind your particular child and how much they know and an age. I mean, if you're talking to a 4-year-old, you need to be saying, you're going to be saying, nothing bad is going to happen to you and we're going to keep you safe. Nick News began with the Gulf War 11 years ago, and we did it because we knew kids were frightened. And we explained the war to them. And then we said to kids back then, American kids, we said you are safe here. This war is far away. Well, after September 11, you can't really say that to a 10 or a 12-year-old because they know better. They don't believe you. So we let them talk. We let them know it's okay to talk. There's nothing wrong with talking about being afraid. One of the kids on the set says, of course, I'm afraid. So are the grownups. You know, that's true.

WHITFIELD: And did you find that having had that experience through your program during the Gulf War, that a lot of these kids, maybe this go-round, might have a lot more questions and a lot more comments than they actually want to be talked to?

ELLERBEE: Well, they have a lot more opinions this time because, remember, we were going against Saddam Hussein because he had attacked Kuwait. Saddam Hussein right now has not attacked anyone. So we got kids from across the country. We got kids from military families. We got one kid who goes to military school. We got kids from families who protested, one kid who protested and the rest of the kids are American citizens just like we are.

WHITFIELD: How did you about picking these kids or finding them, or did they find you?

ELLERBEE: Well, we do get a lot of e-mails and a lot of letters, but we've been doing this for 11 years. So we are very wired into schools around the country, and boys and girls clubs of America and all kinds of organizations. So we do it the old-fashioned journalism way. We get on the phone and start making calls, because I wanted a balanced show. I wanted opinions from various sides. And I wanted to hear what they had to say. And they have no hesitation in saying what they think and what their opinions are. And the very last question I asked all of the kids on the show was, what message would you like to send President Bush personally.

WHITFIELD: And I'm sure they had some pretty resounding messages.

ELLERBEE: They truly do. One kid, I think sort of resonates in my mind from the show was near the end of the show, he looked at me and said the whole world has gone mad. And you know, what can we say to kids? We can say, and we should say to our kids, we should say that the grownups are doing everything possible to keep you safe. And we should remind them that there are more good people in the world than there are bad. And that we have come closer to the brink of world war than this and survived. And that it's always OK to talk about these things and have these feelings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired March 9, 2003 - 17:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: As the crisis with Iraq occupies the minds of many Americans, not even the American children can keep from thinking about the possibility of war. Today's media savvy kids can't escape news coverage of the escalating conflict. And after the traumatic events of September 11, it's almost impossible for them to ignore. Award-winning journalist Linda Ellerbee gives some American kids a chance to talk about it all in a special airing tonight on Nickelodeon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA ELLERBEE, JOURNALIST: Are you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think whether you're for the war or not, most of the people in the United States and all around the world are scared.

ELLERBEE: Is there anything that we grownups can say to you to make you feel less scared, make you feel more comfortable?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we're all at the age where we're not little kids anymore. We shouldn't be treated like little kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe we're not eighteen yet. We won't be able to vote for these things, but the more we talk about it, the more we know what's going on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In terms of going to war, I'm not scared at all. America has the greatest army, and we've got a lot of great and strong allies to back us up, well, Britain. So, I think that we are well equipped to face Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that we can't just sit and let the issue sit, and things will get more tense and tense and tense.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now, we need to make the decision to go over there and get -- get him, because if we're just sitting here thinking about it, nothing is going to happen, and it will make it worse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Smart, expressive kids. Earlier I had a chance to talk with Linda Ellerbee about her Nick News special, "Kids Talk Iraq."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLERBEE: It seemed to us that things were pretty much in place. The weapons inspectors had made their report to the U.N., Colin Powell had made his. The troops are pretty much over there. And we knew that kids would have an easier time talking about their opinions before the war started. And since everybody else in the world has weighed in on this issue, we thought why not let kids speak about it too. After all, citizenship doesn't begin when you're 18.

WHITFIELD: And kids have a lot of questions about this, didn't they? What were some of the questions that a lot of the young people were asking about how to understand these very complexities of a war with Iraq?

ELLERBEE: Well, we explained to them how we got to this point in history. And then we asked them questions more often than not, we talked about what is a just war, do you always have to wait for the bad guys to strike first? Can you be a patriot and be against the war? What do you think should happen now? We talked about the U.N. resolutions. We talked about -- because they know about these things. We don't live today in an age where kids can -- the kids on our set, by the way, are 10-14 years old.

And it's not like they don't know about these things. They do know and, in fact, that's why we did the show. When the noise of a story gets so big that kids can't avoid it, we give them a place and give them a voice, because we always encourage parents to watch these shows with their kids, because we know that sometimes kids don't know how to bring the subject up to their parents, and sometimes we parents don't know how to bring it up to kids. So these shows are good starting places.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder because there are an awful lot of parents who are trying very hard not to talk to their kids about war, about Iraq because they don't want them to be frightened, or maybe they don't want them to become prejudiced. Is your advice that, you know, this is a way in which to open up some conversations?

ELLERBEE: This is a very good way to open up conversations. And you always have to keep in mind your particular child and how much they know and an age. I mean, if you're talking to a 4-year-old, you need to be saying, you're going to be saying, nothing bad is going to happen to you and we're going to keep you safe. Nick News began with the Gulf War 11 years ago, and we did it because we knew kids were frightened. And we explained the war to them. And then we said to kids back then, American kids, we said you are safe here. This war is far away. Well, after September 11, you can't really say that to a 10 or a 12-year-old because they know better. They don't believe you. So we let them talk. We let them know it's okay to talk. There's nothing wrong with talking about being afraid. One of the kids on the set says, of course, I'm afraid. So are the grownups. You know, that's true.

WHITFIELD: And did you find that having had that experience through your program during the Gulf War, that a lot of these kids, maybe this go-round, might have a lot more questions and a lot more comments than they actually want to be talked to?

ELLERBEE: Well, they have a lot more opinions this time because, remember, we were going against Saddam Hussein because he had attacked Kuwait. Saddam Hussein right now has not attacked anyone. So we got kids from across the country. We got kids from military families. We got one kid who goes to military school. We got kids from families who protested, one kid who protested and the rest of the kids are American citizens just like we are.

WHITFIELD: How did you about picking these kids or finding them, or did they find you?

ELLERBEE: Well, we do get a lot of e-mails and a lot of letters, but we've been doing this for 11 years. So we are very wired into schools around the country, and boys and girls clubs of America and all kinds of organizations. So we do it the old-fashioned journalism way. We get on the phone and start making calls, because I wanted a balanced show. I wanted opinions from various sides. And I wanted to hear what they had to say. And they have no hesitation in saying what they think and what their opinions are. And the very last question I asked all of the kids on the show was, what message would you like to send President Bush personally.

WHITFIELD: And I'm sure they had some pretty resounding messages.

ELLERBEE: They truly do. One kid, I think sort of resonates in my mind from the show was near the end of the show, he looked at me and said the whole world has gone mad. And you know, what can we say to kids? We can say, and we should say to our kids, we should say that the grownups are doing everything possible to keep you safe. And we should remind them that there are more good people in the world than there are bad. And that we have come closer to the brink of world war than this and survived. And that it's always OK to talk about these things and have these feelings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com