MEDIA Defence of your realm Media myths about social work need to be challenged but it is down to practitioners themselves to do it, write Tariro Nyatsanza and Mark Peel Y ou are at a dinner party and are casually asked so, what do you do?. How easy is it for you to reply I am a social worker? Talking to a group of final year social work students it appeared this was not easy at all, with many being evasive or highly creative in their responses. In short, anything other than admitting to being a social worker. But why? Is it because of the negative media image of incompetent dogooders or does it reflect a perception that, as we largely work with those identified as undeserving, it is never likely that our efforts will be valued? Something like this lies behind the fact that we inadvertently perpetuate those stereotypes through our cagey responses to simple questions about what we do. A common thread here is the medias pervasive influence in developing public opinion of social work and social workers, which in turn may influence our responses to even the most wellmeaning, casual enquiry. It is common to hear social workers bemoaning the skewed and distorted portrayal the media, with some noble exceptions, typically reserve for our As a profession we need to do better at defending our corner and we might also do better at believing in and standing up for ourselves hope is there that we can offer a more accurate and positive story of what it is that we do? We need to do better as a profession at defending our corner and we might also do better at believing in and standing up for ourselves. Imagine for a moment that the dinner party question was asked to medics, nurses or teachers, all of whom have had their fair share of negative media attention. Do you think we would have had similar responses to those of the social workers? It has always been a struggle to lay claims to what social work is and what it might be. But, although other professions seem more able to draw lines of demarcation around their respective fields, this will always be more difficult for social work given our orientation of bringing others together and filling the gaps. Social work can be complex and sophisticated, yet is usually unseen and un-trumpeted, leading to the profession. But, looking deeper into the issue, we wondered to what extent might such a climate inhibit effective social work practice for example, through overly riskaverse practice and a preoccupation with protecting our own backs. The Rotherham child abuse scandal comes to mind. It is alleged that officials, including social workers, failed to protect up to 1,400 children from harm in the town. Possibly, an all-encompassing and stultifying politically correct organisational culture made it difficult for professionals to put their heads above the parapet. But the danger of such a culture is that, as social works professional responsibilities are distorted and limited, we may start to perceive our profession in the way that the media caricature presents it. assumption that it is a low-skilled and straightforward task. Good social work practice seeks to promote change to tackle disadvantage but, in the light of media coverage, social workers seem like a disadvantaged group themselves. By answering the dinner party question we can at least begin to empower ourselves as individual practitioners, and perhaps even as a profession. Representing and championing ones profession is part of every professionals role and responsibility. It is partly achieved by working and behaving well, having credibility and generating trust and respect. But there is also a role in explaining and promoting ones profession, which is wider and more general than just being an exemplary practitioner. It involves speaking for the profession, explaining what it does and why, and responding to criticism and castigation. The key failure of social work with Given that most people have little direct contact with social workers, that image will be the evidence on which public opinion is formed. The tendency of the media to dramatise the extreme adversities of the profession can then stoke up a moral panic. It can feel like a no-win situation. On the one hand social workers are criticised for acting too quickly with insufficient knowledge of the facts, while on the other they are parodied as incompetent, indecisive and reluctant to intervene quickly enough when obviously needed. Indeed such a climate of mistrust, once created, is likely not to be confined to the public, but extend to social workers and influence the way we think about ourselves and the value of what we do. If we are not brave enough to identify ourselves as social workers, what Representing and championing ones profession is part of every professionals role and responsibility respect to the media has been an inability to effectively present the argument for the importance of the work we do. Tariro Nyatsanza is a newly qualified social worker working for an East Midlands local authority and Mark Peel is a senior lecturer at the University of Leicester