One of the enduring and underlying themes of documentaries about men is the fact that there always seems to be room for naysayers who want to undermine the concept of the show. Sometimes this can take away the overriding message or dampen its effect.
The site picked up on the negative comments from a Damian Carnell from Nottinghamshire Domestic Abuse Forum (in the BBC's excellent and well received Last Refuge programme) whose sole remit seemed to be to try and make out that official statistics on male victims of domestic abuse were not as they seemed on paper. I felt his contribution had been shoe-horned into the programme and certainly on a documentary about female victims of domestic abuse, the BBC would not have someone on whose purpose was to undermine statistics on female victims.
Other documentaries scratch the surface in such a way as to not do the subject justice or skew things to such an extent that meaning or relevance can go missing. It can obviously skew meaning to the detriment of the subject matter and often this can be deliberate and add more weight to a stereotype. It's all so easy to do if you are a member of the the anti-male media, public sector and political establishment.
This is the case with the Panorama programme on Monday night called Britain's Missing Dads, which left viewers with the impression with the fact that men were feckless and the plight of single parent mothers was the sole fault of men and the benefits system (which mothers were happy to exploit). Even to the point where Frank Field berated fathers for being feckless and they used the worst possible case in the UK (a man with endless children by endless mothers).
It was almost as if Panorama was trying to be the TV equivalent of the Daily Mail (better than the Guardian of course!).
The progamme did not cover the bias in the family courts, the ideological disdain for fathers by CAFCASS, the CSA/CMEC or of course, the fact that some mothers do not want the father around especially if it means they cannot 'game' the benefits system. The latter two points were made out to be the sole fault of the father.
The man bashing agenda can be seen by the response from the Fatherhood Institute about the way their quotes had been taken out of context and their view that the programme just perpetuated stereotypes. It is an excellent response as is the response from the Men's Network.
The anger about the programme can really be felt by the comments left on the BBC website. Instead of looking at the issue in the round or concentrating on an issue where there is clear problem (the family courts for example), the BBC's Panorama chose the ideologically easy target - the feckless dad.
It is easier you see to concentrate your fire on men and fathers in this way because they are a not politcially correct victim group. It is far harder to produce a programme on the bias of the family courts denying children access and support from their fathers. All hell would break loose if the BBC told the truth about the family courts system.
Posted by Skimmington
PS There are lots of comments on the BBC's site but this one says it all in a nutshell (listed at 8.55pm).
"Yet another program that only shows one side of the problem.What about showing the mothers that refuse to give fathers any access to children after a divorce, then spread rumours like, 'I think he may have been doing something to them', even when completely untrue.
"I lost my career because my ex decided this was the best way to stop me having any access, and went from £25000 a year in 1990 to £9500 in 2010. I had difficulty paying bills, let alone maintenance, and as for contact I have recently found out she destroyed any letters I sent to my children or any they sent to me.
"Is that the actions of a caring mother?
"How about another program showing the other side of the problems, not just the governments or mothers."
Great review. I think this shows how the BBC clearly isn't on our side. yes they've offered some great radio programmes, but this is then ruined by yet another far more high profile tv production full of contempt for men.
With regards to having an equivalent piece showing mother in a bad or even honest light, well I believe that should have been the "Who Needs Fathers" series, where the most significant episode was in fact rather suspiciously cancelled at the last minute.
Posted by: John Kimble | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 01:09
Great post, we've linked to it from our site and blogged about BBC anti-male bias here: http://brightonmanplan.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/is-the-bbc-biased-against-men/
Posted by: Glen Poole | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 07:17
Many outside England can't see this programme. A quick run down was put together a few days ago on antimisandry.com.
http://antimisandry.com/father-children/britains-missing-dads-37196.html
Posted by: Johnathon Rocks | Wednesday, 19 January 2011 at 12:18
I have a different view of this programme.
I thought it was was going to be the same old garbage, and it was for 10 minutes, but then the programme starts looking at the single mothers, and subtly suggests that its the single mothers and the benefits system that are the real problem, not the fathers. At the end of the programme, we see Keith Mcdonald (father of 8 kids, to 8 different women) in a more sympathtic light, at least I thought so.
I have a high quality version of the programme available on my blog, along with several other BBC/Channel 4 TV & radio programmes, at:
http://antifeministmedia.blogspot.com/
Nice site btw, good read.
Posted by: AntiFeministMedia | Wednesday, 09 February 2011 at 22:04