Yes, this must be so. In this case part of the intention of the story must be to catalyse or maximise likelihood of prosecution, at least in part to validate and signal-boost the story but also I am sure that (whatever their other motives might be) the reporters must feel some sense of responsibility for the girls and the desire that they not suffer from or regret going public.

In other cases this is clearly more complicated, e.g. partygate.