Episode Details

Have you ever read a news article that describes a domestic abuser as a “good guy”. Can an abuser be a good person, really? Jane Gilmore, award winning journalist from Australia, talks with Anne Blythe, M.Ed. about how media coverage of domestic abuse doesn’t help victims recognize the truth.

If the media didn’t help you recognize your husband’s abuse, attend a Betrayal Trauma Recovery Group Session TODAY to get the support you need.

Transcript: Can An Abuser Be A Good Person?

Anne: I’m honored to have Jane Gilmore on today’s episode. She’s an author and award-winning journalist. And has a master of journalism degree from the University of Melbourne. Welcome Jane.

Jane: Thank you, lovely to be here.

Anne: I’ve invited Jane to talk about news stories, movies and TV and how the media portrays domestic abuse. When it comes to journalism, I’ve had some personal experience with this, because my friend, Leah Moses’s son, was murdered by her ex-husband, and Leah asked me to be the spokesperson for her in the immediate aftermath of that event.

And so I was on the news quite a bit. If you go to our YouTube channel Betrayal Trauma Recovery, you can see I’ve created a playlist for that. It’s called Betrayal Trauma Recovery in the news. A lot of the news outlets at that time, all of them actually reported it as a murder suicide, but they didn’t talk about abuse at all. Most reports said this murderer was a respected psychologist. They interviewed people who knew him, who said the abuser was a good person.

Knowing Leah’s story, he was one of the most abusive people. There were multiple DCFS reports for the welfare of her children. Police called multiple times. This was a classic domestic abuse situation. Why would any reporter put in print that an abuser is a good person? So the question of, can a murderer be a good person? Why is that even a question? Parth Gandhi was a murderer. He murdered his son.

There’s no more proof. Like if murdering your own son isn’t proof that you’re an abuser. There’s never enough proof for them, not in the media, not in the courts. Not anywhere.

The Impact Of Media On Society’s Perception

Anne: Instead, they said, it was the result of a prolonged legal battle. And some reports suggested that due to the prolonged legal battle, he was so upset or frustrated, it led to a breakdown. Rather than both the prolonged custody battle and the murder were due to his abuse. This is one of the things that can happen when

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