Most of the media covered the sex abuse scandal within the U.S. Catholic Church with diligence and zest. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops found in its report on the scandal that nearly 11,000 cases of sexual abuse occurred by priests and deacons over a 50-year period.
So why has the media been nearly silent over a draft report commissioned for the U.S. Department of Education, which states that between 6 percent and 10 percent of the nation's school children have been sexually abused or sexually harassed by school employees and teachers?
That question was raised by an article on NewsMax.com, which cited the report's author, Dr. Charol Shakeshaft, professor of policy studies at Hofstra University, as saying the number of abuse cases in schools might even be higher.
Shakeshaft said she estimated that roughly 290,000 students were sexually abused by a school employee between 1991 and 2000. She said in her report that “the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests,” and took place over one decade, rather than five.
“Yet, media coverage of the Catholic priest abuse scandal was nearly wall-to-wall,” said Newsmax.com's Jon Dougherty. “[E]very major television news program, every major newspaper and wire service, and most mass market magazines covered the scandal relentlessly.”
Dougherty said online searches for media references to the Shakeshaft report turned up virtually nothing. “Catholic leaders especially are wondering why more coverage of the issue, as well as more action by government education officials, hasn't been forthcoming,” he said.
(This article appeared in the June 2004 issue of AFA Journal, a monthly publication of the American Family Association and appears courtesy of Agape Press.)
