For MLK Day, Abuse Coalition Calls for End to Biased Media Portrayals of Black Men

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Stewart

Telephone: 513-479-3335

For MLK Day, Abuse Coalition Calls for End to Biased Media Portrayals of Black Men

WASHINGTON / January 16, 2022 – Martin Luther King was a stalwart champion of fairness and justice. In observance of Martin Luther King Day, the Coalition to End Domestic Violence calls on reporters and editors to end biased portrayals of Black male victims of domestic violence.

Media bias is evidenced by the use of misleading statistics, insinuating headlines, and biased photographs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Black men are more likely than Black women to be victims of domestic violence, sexual violence, or stalking each year (1):

Black male victims: 1,476,000
Black female victims: 1,283,000

But media accounts often rely on one-sided statistics promoted by advocacy organizations. For example, the National Network to End Domestic Violence states, “More than 1 in 3 women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.” The NNEDV provides no statistics about men who have experienced sexual assault, violence, or stalking (2).

In other cases, media headlines include information designed to make the female suspect appear more sympathetic, such as noting that the woman is a “single mother.” Similar headlines are not seen when the suspect is male.

News coverage of two domestic violence incidents, one involving a Black male victim, the second involving a White female target, illustrates other forms of media bias.

When Terry Hickman, a Black man, was shot five times by his former girlfriend in Washington, DC, media accounts of incident featured a photograph of the woman sporting a broad smile and wearing color-coordinated attire. Suspect Nijinsky Dix was spared the incriminating mug shot (3). A Google News search returned 322 media accounts.

In contrast, when Utahna Halona, a White woman, was fatally stabbed in the neck by her husband, the media account featured an image of the suspect, a disheveled and unshaven man glaring at the police camera (4). A Google News search of the incident turned up 2,520 articles, a seven-fold difference in media coverage compared to Terry Hickman.

Researcher Murray Straus notes, “the past 25 years has seen a systematic denial of evidence about perpetration of PV [partner violence] by women. This denial is troublesome for social scientists because it threatens the integrity of science, and for practitioners because it threatens the effectiveness of prevention and treatment efforts.” (5)

Biased media accounts give rise to unfair treatment of Black men by the criminal system (6). The Coalition to End Domestic Violence is sponsoring an online petition designed to curb the over-arrest of Black men in domestic violence cases (7).

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