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Topic: Letters Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 8/28/2008 3:56:47 PM
Title: Subject: Uncritical coverage of swingers case
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
From JAMES M. WOOD: psychology professor, University of Texas at El Paso: A replay of the infamous McMartin Preschool case is currently underway in Tyler, Texas, although the press has so far failed to grasp the nature of what is happening there. Three defendants in the so-called Mineola Swingers case have already received life sentences for supposedly training children to perform nude dancing and sex acts in a night club whose walls were decorated with pictures of witches and dragons. At least four additional defendants are awaiting trial, and there are signs that the list of accused persons will continue growing indefinitely.

The Mineola case depends on the allegations of young children, with no corroborating physical evidence that sexual abuse ever occurred. I am a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso and a published expert on child suggestibility. I donated my time pro bono to the defense of Mineola defendant Patrick Kelly and reviewed the interviews and files in his case. I concluded that the children in Mineola have been flagrantly coached and pressured by adults into telling false stories. All the children initially denied sexual abuse. Only after being subjected to relentless coaxing and suggestive questioning did they begin to make allegations, many of which were bizarre, illogical or contradictory. I have not testified in the case, but my opinions were confirmed by Dr. Matthew Ferrara of Austin, a forensic psychologist who also reviewed the files and testified at Patrick Kelly's trial.

Despite the clear evidence of flagrantly improper interviewing and coaching, and despite considerable independent evidence disconfirming the children’s allegations, the Texas and national media have treated the Mineola case unskeptically, as if the allegations are unproblematically true. The latest example of uncritical reporting was an online piece published by Newsweek on August 23, "Trouble in East Texas" by Gretel C. Kovach. Kovach focused her article on plucky, personable Margie Cantrell, foster parent to three of the children. Kovach noted that Cantrell has been accused of coaching the children. However, Kovach apparently didn’t contact Dr. Ferrara or other experts who have reviewed the materials in the case. If she had done so, Kovach would have learned that the child interviews were conducted in a way that violates all published standards, and that there is extensive evidence, much of it on videotape, that Cantrell partcipated in those interviews and engaged in extensive coaching and manipulation of the children.

The Mineola case requires something more than the shallow, sensationalistic coverage it has received thus far. At the very least, journalists who cover the case should realize that similar cases received national attention in the 1980s and were eventually shown to be bogus. For an example of excellent investigative reporting on these kinds of cases, I recommend Satan's Silence by Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedeker. [Permalink]

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