News Framing of Sexual Violence against Children: A Mixed Method Embedded Approach

Marie J. Matalines Ana
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Marie J. Matalines Ana: Davao del Sur State College, Philippines

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 2023, vol. 7, issue 2, 644-764

Abstract: Sexual violence against children is a serious human right violation, social, and public health issue with long-term effects on mental and physical health of the victim. Preventing abuse requires a change of attitudes, beliefs, and circumstances in the individual and in the community which the media can influence with major impact. This study focused on the framing techniques used by 50 online journalists in child sexual violence news reportage with emphasis on the analysis of linguistic features in headings, beginning sentences, selection of sources, quotes, and concluding remarks. The news articles exemplify the attribution of responsibility frame in general. News reportage majorly attribute victimization, victim blaming and de-emphasizing sexual crimes. Further, accounts of rape and molestation simply present the perpetrator’s name without presenting the reasons, which indirectly indicates the normalization of sexual violence against children. This implies the absence of societal attribution of blame in the commission of heinous crimes. On the other hand, quantitative findings reveal that the attribution frame is highly evident, indicating that it was often used by news writers. In addition, the overall result on the differences in framing techniques among journalists was not significant in terms of age and sex. Finally, integration of findings proved that societal level solutions merged and converged in the mixed methods approach, which showed that news writers articulate societal level solutions in news reportage. In conclusion, the news framing on sexual violence against children is highly centered on the victims in terms of responsibility, hence, less attention is directed to perpetrators. This contributes to the lack of regard for children’s precious life, existence and individuality, which can be appalling knowing that the media have the power to make or break a society. In another light, regardless of age and sex, news reportage still speaks about societal level solutions, which can turn things around if and only if these solutions benefit the victims in general.

Keywords: news framing techniques; child sexual violence; mixed methods; content analysis; critical discourse analysis; Philippines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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