RADAR Turns the Tide on Domestic Violence

RADAR – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a network of men and women working to assure the domestic violence (DV) issue is addressed in a balanced manner. RADAR was established in early 2005 in response to a series of inflammatory articles that appeared in the Washington Post.

Each week, RADAR’s Media Monitors kept tabs on DV coverage in scores of national and local news outlets. When a biased article was spotted, an Alert went out calling on persons around the country to respond. The Alerts were posted at the RADAR website: http://www.mediaradar.org/ and at other key websites.

As the result of the hard-hitting Alerts, RADAR succeeded in curbing the biased depictions of DV in the major print media that were based on the formula of “male = abuser, female = victim.”

Beginning in June, RADAR turned its attention to the Violence Against Women Act. In July we launched our Shock and Awe campaign. Over a four month period, and working in close collaboration with RADAR’s partners, thousands of persons sent faxes, e-mails, and letters, and made phone calls and personal visits to members of the Senate and House of Representatives. Impressive!

RADAR also enlisted a group of columnists to write articles about VAWA: Stephen Baskerville, Richard Davis, Gordon Finley, Mark Rosenthal, Lisa Scott, Mike Spaniola, and David Usher. These articles appeared in the Washington Times and in many internet editorial sites. Other well-known columnists such as Wendy McElroy, Cathy Young, and Phyllis Schlafly also wrote articles that highlighted RADAR’s concerns.

This was the first time in the fathers'/men's movement that such a coordinated and sustained effort to influence national legislation was mounted. A detailed listing of RADAR’s activities and accomplishments is shown at the end of this report.

As a direct result of the outcry from the grass roots and intensive lobbying efforts, both the Senate and House versions of the bill added language designed to clarify that male victims of DV qualify for VAWA services. Currently, VAWA is stalled in Congress and its final outcome is uncertain.

Overall, RADAR succeeded in changing the way the print media portrays the domestic violence issue and in influencing national legislation. But more work is needed, as shown by the recent PBS program, Breaking the Silence.

Many thanks go to RADAR’s Media Monitors, organizational partners, HisSide for its website support, Men’s News Daily, Men’s Activism News Network, and to the thousands of persons who participated in the RADAR campaigns over the past 10 months.

Together we made a difference – and the best is yet to come.

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RADAR’s Activities and Accomplishments, January to October, 2005

ACTIVITIES

Issue-Specific Campaigns:

1. VAWA
2. Amnesty International
3. PBS Breaking the Silence

Alerts:

Issued 44 Alerts organized in three phases:

1. 1. January 16 – June 7: Biased articles in the print media
2. 2. June 13 – Oct. 9: VAWA
3. 3. Oct. 17 – Oct. 30: Breaking the Silence

Press Releases: 8

Publications (listed on RADAR website):

1. Op-Ed Columns and Articles: 46 (this number is known to be an under-count)
2. Letters to the editor: 10 (also known to be an under-count)

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

1. Stopped the publication of biased DV articles in the major mainstream print media.
2. Placed dozens of op-eds favorable to our perspective throughout the men’s rights and internet media.
3. Helped to generate thousands of phone calls, emails, faxes, letters, and personal visits over a four-month period to elected officials regarding VAWA, resulting in expected changes to VAWA that will recognize men as DV victims.
4. Generated widespread awareness of RADAR – a Google search of “Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting” brought up 363 hits, including a section on domestic violence in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_violence
5. Stimulated broad awareness and concern about PBS’ Breaking the Silence.

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