The entertainment and news media have been alternately cursed and blessed in recent years for their treatment of domestic violence issues. Certainly this powerful institution can be an extremely valuable tool for disseminating information on services, reporting crimes and consequences, educating a broad segment of the public, raising money and volunteer support for shelters and other organizations, and shaping public attitudes.

Battered women’s advocacy groups have launched their own media campaigns to make victims of abuse aware of their legal rights and remedies, to educate the public about domestic violence, to publicize hotlines and shelters and to warn batterers that family violence is a crime.

The downside of extensive media coverage cannot be ignored. Abusers often use death threats to control and terrorize the victims, and many report being told that what happened to Nicole Brown Simpson or other women who died will happen to them if they don’t “shape up” or behave themselves. Movies and music videos in particular have been criticized for mixing violence with sex and portraying women in inaccurate, inappropriate ways.

But today, the scope of the media is nearly boundless, with new newspapers, magazines and cable TV channels appearing almost daily. The best way to deal with negative or false messages is usually to counter them with the truth. Publicity about domestic violence, what it is, the damage it causes, and perhaps most importantly, what works to stop it, can be an extremely powerful tool for change.

There is a tremendous emphasis today not only on protecting victims and punishing offenders, but on changing the attitudes that permit violence against women to continue.

At SMMHC’s Alcohol & Drug Office, we have solutions for problems with substance abuse and anger.

Carolene Britt is a counselor at Southwest Mississippi Mental Health Complex.