CAPSA says media key in portrayal of abuse

Since living fear of domestic violence is a sad reality for many people, including Utahns, awareness must be raised regarding this secretive problem, experts explained to USU journalism students.

“It is part of our culture that what goes on inside someone’s home stays there,” said Kathryn Monson, program director for Logan’s Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency (CAPSA). This is one of the reasons intimate partner abuse often goes unreported, she said, since many victims will minimize or even deny the behavior, “because no one wants their family to be like that.”

Having the resources to make that first phone call and break the silence are what domestic violence survivor and specialist Brandy Farmer said saved her life after seven years of abuse.

“I knew to call a shelter because I had read a newpaper article and cut out the phone number,” she said, noting she hid the tiny newspaper clipping about the YWCA at the top of her closet. “I’m here to tell you that hope is what gave me the power within myself to survive.”

Domestic violence claimed 23 Utahns’ lives in 2004, according to the Utah Domestic Violence Council. To prevent any of these tragedies from recurring, Farmer and Monson both emphasized the importance of raising awareness of the causes, warning signs and actions to take in dealing with domestic violence.

“I made a promise to myself I’d do everything in my power to save lives,” Farmer said of her gratitude for the news story she found that saved her own life. “Since then, I’ve been interviewed for more than 200 newspapers, magazines, TV shows and had entire chapters of books on domestic violence written about me.”

Monson echoed the importance of making the public aware, citing a quote from Sgt. Mark Wynn of the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department that said, “The way to fight the evil of domestic violence is to expose it … to shine the light of day on it.”

This is why she and Farmer said it is important to speak to journalists, since the way stories dealing with the problem are reported in the media may affect how people view the complex issue of domestic violence. One of the ways Farmer said the media is often at fault is in the tendency to place blame on others besides the perpetrator – on law enforcement, shelters or even the victim.

“Victim blaming is global. What most people do not seem to realize is that no one deserves to be killed,” she wrote in a publication for CAPSA. “The only person at fault is the killer. The killer is the one who made a choice to take someone’s life.”

Farmer and Monson also emphasized the importance for journalists to explain why abusers batter, which they said is simply for power and control. Monson explained the cycle of violence found in abusive relationships, which she said evolves from tension to a violent episode and then to remorse, or what she called a “honeymoon phase.”

“This is the a period of manipulation that might include gifts or promises, which leads to hope on the part of the victim,” she said. “It makes her think, ‘This is the person I fell in love with; the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.’ Truly this is one of the factors of control.”

Farmer and Monson demonstrated that the media can play a proactive role in stopping and preventing domestic abuse by spreading accurate information and promoting the availability of resources like CAPSA, which are free and available to anyone.

For information on anything related to domestic violence, call 1-800-897-LINK or CAPSA at 753-2500.

-lindsaykite@cc.usu.edu