ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post
By ELIYAHU FEDERMAN \ 10/20/2014
In the rush to report salacious abuse stories, the media often fail to report positive developments in the religious world’s fight to address child sexual abuse.
The mainstream media extensively cover clergy sexual abuse. Giving voice to victims and exposing sexual abuse cover-ups in the religious world is more than newsworthy. The appalling hypocrisy, breach of trust by “men of the cloth,” and shocking nature of clergy abuse generates high ratings and deserving outrage.
But in the rush to report salacious abuse stories, the media often fail to report positive developments in the religious world’s fight to address child sexual abuse.
This one-sided coverage inadvertently maligns the religious world by perpetuating myths that nothing is being done to combat sexual abuse, and that abuse is far more prevalent in the religious world than the general population.
Recently, for example, the mainstream media ignored a hassidic community’s historic sexual abuse awareness event, organized by the Brooklyn-based sexual abuse prevention organization JCW. Hundreds attended, including rabbis, teachers, professionals, parents, and even Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson. At the event, hassidic rabbi, YY Jacobson encouraged victims to speak up about abuse. One sexual abuse survivor told the crowd that shame belongs to perpetrators, not victims. The audience stood in applause.
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