NCJ Number
166436
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 5 Issue: 5 Dated: (December 1996) Pages: 319-333
Date Published
1996
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Twenty-two interviews with journalists in the United Kingdom focused on their coverage of child sexual abuse and the false memory syndrome and its impact in terms of focusing public debate on the risks of false accusations of parents rather than on children's risks of being abused.
Abstract
Child welfare professionals agree that children are most at risk of sexual abuse from adults whom they know, often fathers, stepfathers, uncles, and brothers. However, media coverage generally focuses on abductions, pedophile rings, and abuse in child care settings. In contrast, sexual abuse of children within their own families rarely receives attention unless the accusations are contested. The Cleveland, Rochdale, and Orkney scandals put the focus on the issues of misdiagnosis, inappropriate intervention, and the supposed coaching of children to make false accusations. Accounts of false memory syndrome also suggested that some adults' accounts of abuse can be discredited. Journalists' interest in false memory syndrome resulted from the easy access to personal accounts and dramatic court cases, the newness of the issue, the view that the issue was politically and socially important, the strength of the arguments of the False Memory Society, and the relative credibility of the accusers and the accused. The way the concept of the false memory syndrome has been promoted may undermine survivors' credibility and create yet another psychological label for a predominantly female population. 5 references