Stereotypes plague the news

“Every day you can hear an incident where an intimate has been violent to their intimate and it’s not even called domestic violence. It’s seen as a ‘crime of passion,’” said Janet Carter, managing director of the Family Violence Prevention Fund in San Francisco. Naming the crime is important, she added. “The more you see the same thing, the more you see how common it is. If you report it under different names, people can’t see a pattern.”

“There are social norms that support domestic violence,” Ms. Carter explained. She listed several: “This is a normal part of marriage…a family affair…he was so angry he couldn’t help it… there must be a reason why he did this. The press reflects this. The public thinks, ‘if she would just change her behavior,’ rather than if he would just change his behavior.”

Domestic violence is a social, not just individual problem

Ms. Carter said the consequences of domestic violence aren’t confined to the couple. “Children learn from the perpetrator that if you want something you beat someone up and they give it to you. Also, they learn that that’s the way you act in an intimate relationship. The cycle keeps going.”

Domestic violence is society’s problem, not just an individual’s problem, she said. “One-third of all women killed in this country are killed by domestic violence. And the children growing up in those homes are more likely to commit violence of all sorts, not just attack spouses.”

The Mercury responds

Sean Webby, the lead reporter on the first article, co-reported with Roxanne Stites, and the sole author of the second article quoting battered women’s advocates, agreed that the story was “incomplete.” But, he said, it was not for lack of trying to get other viewpoints. Mr. Webby said Julia McGovern had rebuffed several efforts to get her side. Marc Brown, Mr. Webby's editor on the story, said there was an effort to reach battered women's advocates, but the calls hadn't been returned by Tuesday evening's deadline.

Because the story was a feature, rather than a first-day account of the event, however, it could have been held over a day to gather the domestic violence angle.

Mr. Brown said the Mercury published before gathering that angle primarily because editors feared the San Francisco Chronicle would beat them to it if they delayed. As it turned out the Chronicle did not have the story the next day.

Other factors entered. In the rush against the clock that’s inescapable in daily journalism, reporters and editors held out hope into the evening that Ms. McGovern might talk, or that they could get through to advocates. “It was not a conscious effort to leave that (angle) out,” Mr. Brown explained. “We just had a brain freeze on deadline. We knew we had to have the perspective of advocates for battered women.”

Mr. Brown said he realized the paper had made a mistake later that night while at home. “We weren’t happy with the first story.”

Both Mr. Brown and Mr. Webby said they began work on the second day story to plug that gap as soon as they got to their desks. “I can tell you without a doubt,” Mr. Brown said, “that the second day story was in because we realized ourselves we missed the boat as far as that angle.” The follow-up story was not a response to complaints, both said.

Avoiding Domestic Violence Stereotypes

Reporting domestic violence creates special challenges for news media, both print and broadcast. 

“There is a need to change public attitudes about domestic violence,” says Janet Carter, managing director of the Family Violence Prevention Fund in San Francisco. It should be something that we’re not going to tolerate…just as we changed the norms on drunk driving and smoking.”

In the 1970’s feminist scholars began to raise the salience of spousal abuse. They argued that American culture--like many others--is patriarchal. It takes men’s rights more seriously than women’s, particularly after marriage. From this perspective, if husbands dominate their wives, occasionally using force, society does not react with the same kind of outrage that it would if a stranger assaulted someone. Here are the stereotypes they found in news coverage of this alarmingly common type of violence:

·        Domestic violence has remained largely submerged as an issue, despite being the most common type of felony assault arrest in California because it is seen as a private matter for the couple to resolve rather than a problem for society.

·        When domestic violence is reported, there is a tendency to avoid naming the assailant--usually the man when there is serious injury. Passive voice is often used. 'She was treated for cuts and bruises', rather than 'police charged her husband with punching and slapping her.'

·        The victim is often implicitly blamed for provoking the violence. She might be described as wearing sexy clothing or flirting with another man or berating or nagging her husband or boyfriend. Battered women’s advocates have developed a slogan: “There’s no excuse for domestic violence.” No matter what a woman does, it does not justify beating her up. There are other options. Mercury News reporter Michelle Guido says “This is the only crime where we hold victims responsible.”

·        The batterer is portrayed sympathetically and his culpability minimized. He is often described by friends or relatives as a “great guy” who was acting out in a moment of passion, perhaps even out of love. He just “snapped.” In reality, most men who batter do so habitually. Women don't usually call the police until they've been beaten more than five times, according to Ms. Guido.

Battering is never an act of love, advocates say, but an act of control. And batterers aren’t nice guys. The sympathetic portrayal of a batterer is most common in sports, according to Ms. Guido. “Stars often beat their wives and are excused.” 

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