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The Press
September 21, 2000
Letter to the Editor
Child abuse
by (Dr) John Read registered
psychologist September 8, 2000
The David McLoughlin article (September 1) seems a little unbalanced.
He provided 64 lines of quotes from Elizabeth Loftus, the American professor
recently in New Zealand
presenting the research which she uses in United States courts to discredit
the testimony of adults alleging child abuse. The combined total of quotes
from Ms Eileen Swan and myself was 14 lines.
While Loftus was portrayed in such glowing terms as "delightful"
and "friendly", I was described as my having "hurled a
stinging peroration at Professor Loftus". Similarly, the 28-page
document distributed by Ms Swan and others was characterised as a
"protest" ... "denouncing her". Perhaps Mr McLoughlin
should have reported its contents. Your readers would have learned of the
many methodological and ethical concerns surrounding the research in
question.
Neither uncritical acceptance of Professor Loftus' work, nor the type of
"journalism" practised by Mr McLoughlin, seem likely to assist us
to deal with our current child abuse.
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