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Washington Times Endangers Children in the Name of “Protecting the Children”
To grab the reader's attention, the article opens with the story of a 5-year old who's afraid his abusive stepfather might kill him. Then, having firmly established the image of an abusive man in the reader's mind, the very next sentence describes an abused baby girl. The reader is not informed until the end of the article that the suspected abuser in this case is the mother. The article immediately follows up with several paragraphs giving details of this one violent man's attacks on his wife and stepson. It then goes on to cite statistics showing that caseworkers are predominantly women whose jobs require them to handle too many cases for too little pay.
The takeaway picture is that self-sacrificing, compassionate women are fighting a battle to protect helpless children and women from monstrous men.
Child abuse reports from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services paint a very different picture. In child abuse cases perpetrated by one parent acting alone, it is approximately twice as common for the abuser to be the mother than the father. When such cases result in the child's death, it is likewise approximately twice as common for the killer to be the mother than the father.
By creating the false impression that the majority of child abuse is perpetrated by men, the Washington Times misdirects the attention of policymakers, and leaves the majority of abused children vulnerable.
One would have to be a mind-reader to know what the writer had in mind in writing this story. But one thing is certain. Protecting children was not foremost in the author's mind.
Please contact the Washington Times and tell them the following:
1. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services statistics show that mothers are twice as likely as fathers to be sole perpetrators of child abuse.
2. By slanting the truth, their article encourages policymakers to distort the allocation of scarce resources, focusing disproportionate amounts on less common scenarios at the expense of more common scenarios.
3. As a result, their article “Protecting the Children” puts children at greater risk.
Here’s the contact information:
Francis Coombs, managing editor
fcoombs-at-washingtontimes.com
Ted Agres, deputy managing editor
tagres-at-washingtontimes.com
Letters to the Editor: letters-at-washingtontimes.com
Snail mail:
Washington Times
3600 New York Ave., NE
Washington, DC 20002
When you write, be sure to include your name, address, and daytime telephone number.
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See http://www.mediaradar.org/ for more information about the RADAR project.
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One can only wonder what the Washington Times had in mind when they published their May 11 article