RADAR is Scanning for Media Bias

Over the past 10 years, the American public has been fed a steady diet of negative depictions of men by the mainstream media. We see it on the Oprah Winfrey Show, TV sitcoms, advertisements, movies, and even Hallmark greeting cards.

At best, men and fathers are portrayed as inept and confused. At worst, men are presented as the object of derision and scorn.

There is no better example of these negative portrayals than how the media covers the issue of domestic violence.

Over 100 studies have analyzed the nature of domestic violence. These articles consistently report the same result: domestic violence (DV) is an equal opportunity problem. Women are just as likely to initiate partner aggression as men. Anyone can review these studies by visiting the online compilation of Martin Fiebert, Ph.D., professor of Psychology at California State University at Long Beach.

Click "Read more..." for more.But the mainstream media see things a little differently. Playing fast and loose with the truth, the media routinely portray men as the aggressors and women as the victims.

Biased media depictions of DV are a particular problem for fathers. Eventually those false stereotypes become translated into unfair laws and law enforcement procedures. And those stereotypes give rise to false allegations, which are used to evict fathers from their homes and remove them from their children.

The media misrepresentation goes far beyond what anyone could reasonably call sloppy reporting or inadvertent bias.

Editors and reporters have been repeatedly informed of the bias, both by letter and direct telephone conversations. But the calls for balanced and fair coverage remain ignored. The unspoken -- and arrogant -- message is, "We don't care what the truth is. We know what information you need to hear. Now go away."

Four weeks ago the Washington Post ran a sensationalistic three-part series on Maternal Homicide. The full-color articles were splashed across three pages. The series attracted withering criticism from websites representing the full political spectrum: the liberal Slate, ifeminists.net, libertarian LewRockwell.com, and the men's rights site Men's News Daily, and elsewhere.

On December 24 the DC chapter of the National Coalition for Men sent a five-page letter of complaint to the Post. And what was the official response? A seven-sentence dismissal that ended with the absurd claim, "In no way does our coverage of this issue stereotype or vilify men generally."

That's exactly what CBS did when it responded to the recent Rathergate scandal: deny, dissemble, and stonewall.

This deplorable state of affairs is about to change.

On Sunday, January 16, a concerned group of men and women from around the country will launch a domestic violence media watch. The effort is called RADAR. RADAR stands for Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting. The purpose of RADAR is to assure the media, especially the major newspapers and other national media, provide fair and balanced coverage of the domestic violence topic.

The issue is timely, since the current Violence Against Women Act is set to expire later this year. Advocacy organizations soon will be introducing renewal legislation. To support passage of the VAWA renewal, gender advocates at media outlets will no doubt begin to "plant" stories that cater to the scurilous gender stereotypes.

So how will RADAR teach the old media dog new tricks?

Simple: Every time a biased article is published, RADAR will generate hundreds or thousands of phone calls, e-mails, and letters from concerned readers. The letters will be factual and reasonable in tone, but will drive home the basic message: DV is an equal opportunity problem. By ignoring male victims, our society will never solve the problem of domestic violence.

Those e-mailers, telephoners, and letter writers will be people like you, persons who are sick and tired of being maligned and vilified as a batterers and abusers.

But how will we learn about those biased articles?

Actually, that's the purpose of this messge. RADAR is currently searching for Media Monitors across the country. The Media Monitors are persons who read their newspapers on a regular basis - either online or the paper version.

When the Monitor spots a biased article, he or she will have two possible courses of action, depending on whether the source of the biased story is a national publication (like the New York Times) or a local media outlet (like your hometown newspaper):

1. Major national paper: The Monitor will send an e-mail to the RADAR Coordinating Team, which in turn will put out a general alert via internet websites, listservs, and the RADAR website.


2. Local paper: The Monitor will write a letter to the editor, make a friendly call to the reporter, or other appropriate action.

RADAR currently has a number of persons who have signed up to bird-dog their local media. But we want to exponentially expand that network.

Are you game?

Contact Mark Rosenthal, the RADAR Media Monitor Coordinator. Send the following information to him at info-at-mediaradar.org (use a @ in place of -at- in the actual e-mail address you use):

-Your name

-Media outlet you want to track

-State (like Illinois) where the media outlet is located

Join the RADAR campaign, assure fairness in the media, and make a difference. If not now, what are you waiting for?

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