Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Complaint regarding biased coverage of domestic violence on Newsnight (7/1/14)

I am writing to complain about the biased coverage of the issue of domestic violence on Newsnight which aired on 7th January, 2014. Throughout the segment, the issue of domestic violence is presented as a gendered issue in which all perpetrators are assumed to be men, and all victims are assumed to be women.

This erroneous assumption is explicitly expressed by all of the participants, for example Jeremy Paxman: ‘If you teach a man to manage his behavior so that he is not overtly violent, there’s a danger he may start to find more subtle ways of being abusive.’ Guest speaker Polly Neate: ‘It’s not just about a guy learning to control his temper, it’s about coercion.’

Domestic violence is a serious issue which deserves to be discussed in a fair, balanced and comprehensive manner which cannot be achieved without rigorous, fact-based research. This was clearly not undertaken by either the Newsnight team, or its panel of guests. Had they done so, they would have discovered that more than half of all DV incidents are reciprocal, and that women are the perpetrators of the majority of all non-reciprocal domestic violence between heterosexual partners.

Independent studies reveal that men comprise up to 40% of all DV victims in Great Britain. Yet the Newsnight segment completely ignores their existence, just as it ignores the existence of female perpetrators of domestic violence. It is grossly irresponsible of the BBC to contribute to the further marginalization of these already egregiously neglected men by rendering them invisible. It is particularly reprehensible that this was done on a segment that claims to present supportive solutions regarding domestic violence.

While presenting DV as exclusively perpetrated by men may conveniently fit in with feminist narratives on the issue, it does not reflect reality. Erin Pizzey, founder of Britain’s first women’s refuge, Chiswick Aid, observed that DV is not a gendered issue. It is generational, with many contributing factors, including drugs, family/social dysfunction, poverty and mental health.

Ms Pizzey, now Editor at Large for ‘A Voice for Men’ http://avoiceformen.com has commented that viable solutions to DV can never be developed and implemented until we begin to honestly recognize and assess its fundamental causes. This cannot be achieved until we reject the feminist lie that men are always the perpetrators of DV and women are always the victims. We must acknowledge the truth about domestic violence before truly meaningful discussions of value can take place.

The Newsnight segment on domestic violence failed in its obligation to the public to present the truth about this issue by ignoring the existence of male victims of female-perpetrated domestic violence. Vilifying men as solely responsible for DV may be in line with radical feminist propaganda, but it directly breaches the BBC’s own Editorial Guidelines of what constitutes fair and objective reporting. It makes a mockery of readily available facts that could be easily obtained by a secondary school student researching an essay.

I expect the BBC to reply to this complaint by explaining why it allowed one of its most prestigious news programmes to present this serious issue with such obvious anti-male bias and woefully inadequate research. Male victims of domestic violence, and those who love them, deserve better than such callous disregard for the truth – and so do BBC viewers.

Yours faithfully,

Andybob

(real name on complaint)”