Media Coverage of Child Sexual Abuse: A Framework of Issue-Specific Quality Criteria

Media Coverage of Pedophilia and Its Impact on Help-Seeking Persons with Pedophilia in Germany-A Focus Group Study

The public stigma associated with pedophilia, the sexual attraction to prepubescent children, is tremendous. Previous research indicates that undifferentiated media coverage plays an essential role in perpetuating the public stigma by falsely equating pedophilia and child sexual abuse (CSA) and thus may stop persons suffering from a pedophilic disorder from seeking professional help. Until now, a comprehensive examination of positive as well as negative media effects on affected individuals is missing. Therefore, the present study explores if and how media coverage impacts the lives of help-seeking persons with pedophilia by conducting four qualitative focus group discussions with a clinical sample (N = 20) from the German Prevention Network "Kein Täter werden". Present results demonstrate that media coverage of pedophilia was perceived as mostly undifferentiated, even though participants observed an increase in fact-based reporting over the years. Moreover, it seems that media coverage has strong emotional and behavioral consequences for patients (e.g., negative reporting reduced self-esteem). In sum, our results highlight that differentiated media coverage could play a key role in supporting help-seeking persons with pedophilic disorder, while the impact of undifferentiated media coverage appears to be mostly negative. Therefore, our results point to the need to reframe pedophilia using differentiated media coverage to help affected persons receive treatment efficiently and thereby prevent CSA.

Quality of online news media reports of child sexual abuse in India

BACKGROUND

Media plays an important role in creating awareness and shaping public opinion about child sexual abuse (CSA). Research suggests that sensible media reportage on CSA is important for positive impacts of media. However, most of the studies assessing the quality of CSA news reports are from western countries.

AIM

To systematically assess the pattern of online news media reportage of CSA in India.

METHODOLOGY

A total of 149 news reports on the topic of CSA in India, published online over a one-year period were analyzed. Framing of CSA and other news media characteristics were evaluated.

RESULTS

Framing of CSA was episodic in majority of news reports, with criminal-justice system-related details about individual cases mentioned in about 90% reports. Further, more than two-third news reports did not mention possible causes or reasons of CSA, and possible steps that people could take to prevent CSA. About one-fifth of news reports provided statistics, research findings, or correct information to dispel myths or wrong public stereotypes about CSA. Inclusion of child helpline or contact information of any child welfare/support services was missing in most of the news reports.

CONCLUSION

This is the first study to systematically assess the quality of news media reports on CSA in India. It provides valuable baseline information about existing media practices and helps in identifying areas for further improvement of media reporting on CSA. There is a need to conduct regular workshops with media professionals to provide them adequate training and support for improving media reporting of CSA.