Over the decades there has been a great mistrust of the media. A general conception is ‘The media, like any industry, is driven by profit-making. This is often achieved by creating sensational and attention grabbing news at the price of exaggerating or distorting the truth behind the news stories’. I do not agree with this.
I think in every industry, as in any collective of individuals, there will always be a highly competitive people, who will seek to achieve their aims at ‘whatever’ cost. This includes any profession, not just in the field of journalism.
Is television news really objective? Or are they still trying to entertain us? I think the truth is still there, perhaps with a bit of ‘spin’ to win over more viewers on occasions – that is their real currency.
In my experience over the past 3 years, where I have given interviews to the BBC, The Guardian Newspaper and independent journalists, in respect of my abusive past, I do have to say I have found the journalists to be professional and sympathetic to the sensitivities of historic abuse cases. After all it has been a two-way road, a mutually agreeable arrangement. I have disclosed a lot of information regarding the institutional abuse I suffered in the 1970’s, to support their story and in return I have been able to support numerous police investigations by using the media to appeal for witnesses to come forward. It is evident that following newspaper stories, both national and regional, together with regional news exposure on the BBC, people did make contact with the police. All newspaper articles are also available on the Internet, globally.
I would encourage people to support journalistic pieces on abuse and mental health awareness. This is the best way to get your stories out there. Social media is powerful, but the known media sources are the established routes. Post October 2012, the Savile era, as I like to call it, has seen a huge momentum in public support for police investigations into historic abuse in the UK and quiet rightly too. People are outraged and horrified and want to know what happened? Other common questions are – Why was nothing done about it? And what is being done about it now?
Many victims of historic child abuse have been silent for decades, self-stigmatised and wrongly too ashamed to speak out, but now with so many cases being pursued and gaining convictions, they taken the brave step of speaking up. The media have been very supportive of that to a certain extent, apart from some obvious bias being given to the celebrity cases. It would seem generally, that the momentum to remove the veil of secrecy off child abuse is continuing.
The media as a whole are very careful now in the way they handle historic abuse investigation, only reporting on substantiated facts and making sure allegations are labelled as such. A lot of lessons were learnt in November 2012, when Allister McAlpine was mistakenly implicated in the North Wales child abuse scandal, after the BBC Newsnight programme accused an unnamed “senior Conservative” of abuse. McAlpine was widely rumoured on Twitter and other social media platforms to be the person in question. After The Guardian reported that the accusations were the result of mistaken identity, McAlpine issued a strong denial that he was in any way involved. The accuser, a former care home resident, unreservedly apologised after seeing a photograph of McAlpine and realising that he had been mistaken, leading to a report in The Daily Telegraph that the BBC was “in chaos”. The BBC also then apologised.
It is fairly evident that the upper echelons of our society, the hegemonic, have been involved in child sexual abuse for decades and it is only now, post Savile, that the extent of implication and cover-up is becoming known. This is where we need strong, independent investigative journalists and I know of some that are not letting go of those cases unless they are forced to do so. In November, 2012 the Media were ‘gagged over bid to report MP Child sex cases’. The Security Services were accused of aiding a Westminster paedophilia cover-up – see the Guardian.
I support media coverage of child abuse cases and trials. I also see the great benefit to be gained from survivors of child abuse speaking out and telling their stories. It is from this that we as a society learn. We cannot truly protect our children unless we know what paedophiles do and how they do it.
No more Secrets 