An Associated Press article you ran recently questioned the use of data by activists who linked increased domestic violence to Super Bowl Sunday. The article gave the impression that the anti-violence movement was circulating misinformation, but it singled out only one study that was allegedly misinterpreted by one spokesperson at one press conference.
The study in question found higher rates of women suffering assault-related injuries after home-team football victories. In a statement issued after the Super Bowl, the authors of that study stressed, “We have not accused anyone of distorting the results of our study.” The AP turned an academic question of how best to present statistics into an accusation of inaccuracy.
The media watch group FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting), which helped focus attention on domestic violence in the week preceding the Super Bowl, never claimed that any formal study had looked at the rate of battering on Super Bowl Sunday. Rather, we cited reports from many women’s shelters that said they observed a sharp increase in calls for help every year on the day of the game.
On the basis of this connection, FAIR persuaded NBC Sports to run a strong message against domestic violence during its Super Bowl coverage, seen by millions of people. We have always emphasized that battering is a year-round crisis and have called on news outlets to cover it with the attention it deserves.
