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Child Sexual Abuse and the Media: A

Literature Review
a
Jane Long Weatherred
a
University of South Carolina Aiken, Aiken, South Carolina, USA
Published online: 30 Jan 2015.

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 Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 24:16–34, 2015
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1053-8712 print/1547-0679 online
DOI: 10.1080/10538712.2015.976302

Child Sexual Abuse and the Media:

A Literature Review

JANE LONG WEATHERRED

University of South Carolina Aiken, Aiken, South Carolina, USA

The media play an important role in practice, policy, and public

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perception of child sexual abuse, in part by the way in which news

stories are framed. Child sexual abuse media coverage over the past
50 years can be divided into five time periods based on the types of
stories that garnered news coverage and the ways in which public
policy was changed. This systematic literature review of research
on child sexual abuse media coverage across disciplines and geo-
graphic boundaries examines 16 studies published in the English
language from 1995 to 2012. A seminal work is identified, citation
network analysis is applied, and a framework model is developed.

KEYWORDS content analysis, framing theory, media advocacy,

media effects, public health, public policy

The role of the news media in practice, policy, and the public perception of
child sexual abuse (CSA) is profound. The combination of social, political,
economic, and cultural forces affect public health and well-being, and the
media serve to advance discussions among the public and policymakers
about particular public health issues (Wallack et al., 1993). The media can
thus potentially influence policymakers on such public health issues as CSA.
“In our ‘mass-mediated’ democracy, public health battles are fought not only
in the clinics and the courts, but also on the 10 PM news, the front pages,
financial sections, and even on 24 hour, all talk radio” (Wallack & Dorfman,
1996, p. 294). Because public health battles are fought along political as well
as social and behavioral fronts, it is important to understand the media’s

Received 28 March 2013; revised 25 June 2014; accepted 26 June 2014.

Address correspondence to Jane Long Weatherred, Department of Communications,
University of South Carolina Aiken, 471 University Parkway, Aiken, SC 29801. E-mail: janew@
usca.edu
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.
tandfonline.com/wcsa.

16
 Child Sexual Abuse and the Media 17

role and impact. Furthermore, in order to achieve changes in public health

regarding CSA, it is also important to consider the basic values on which
society is based and how the media can influence perceptions of this issue.
The notion of framing among communications scholars developed in
tandem with agenda-setting theory as a way to examine media influence.
Frames are “principles of selection, emphasis and presentation composed of
tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters” (Gitlin,
1980, p. 7). Framing plays a key role in the process of defining social prob-
lems by “selecting and highlighting some facets of events or issues, and
making connections among them so as to promote a particular interpre-
tation, evaluation, and/or solution” (Entman, 1993, p. 52), thus suggesting
how people ought to think about and act on events and issues (Gamson
& Modigliani, 1989). Journalists and special interest groups alike can influ-
ence specific frames (Gamson & Modigliani, 1989). In mass communications
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research, framing theory seeks to define how the news media shape public
opinion (Scheufele, 1999) and is more important when one considers that
for many Americans, the news media are the main and possibly only source
of information about CSA (Mejia, Cheyne, & Dorfman, 2012).
In moral panic theory, the perception of a threat is not in alignment
with the facts. It has been used to analyze media portrayals of child abuse
(Edwards & Lohman, 1994; Jenkins, 1992; Wilczynski & Sinclair, 1999), espe-
cially those that highlight the stranger danger aspects of child abduction and
is persuasive in punitive policymaking.
That the media are the vehicle by which most Americans learn about
CSA has been persistently documented within CSA prevention literature.
In prevention education studies, parents cited the media as the source of
information on CSA from 90% to 99% of the time (Babatsikos, 2010; Elrod
& Rubin, 1993; Finkelhor, 1984; Pullins & Jones, 2006). For this reason,
the emphasis given to certain aspects of CSA in news stories can have
ramifications in the development of public policy.
CSA is considered a public health problem in the United States, with fed-
eral health officials calculating that child abuse and the strains it places on the
criminal justice, health care, and welfare systems amounts to $1.27 million
per year (Fang, Brown, Florence, & Mercy, 2012). The average lifetime cost
of each victim of nonfatal child abuse is estimated to be $210,000, therefore
the treatment for all child abuse—including CSA—can potentially cost more
than other significant health conditions, including stroke and type 2 diabetes
(Fang et al., 2012). More than a decade ago, the 16th surgeon general, David
Satcher, published a call to action to promote sexual health and responsible
behavior and included CSA among a number of sexually related public health
problems in the United States (Satcher, 2001). In a similar vein, the World
Health Organization (WHO), which considers CSA and its prevention a pub-
lic health priority, identified four levels of preventative focus: biological and
personal risk factors, close relationships of family and friends, the community
 18 J. L. Weatherred

in which violence occurs, and the broader social context in which violence
is either accepted or prohibited (Krug, Mercy, Dahlberg, & Zwi, 2002). The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also announced its intent
to focus on CSA prevention (Hammond, 2003), with its ultimate goal being
“to create a social context in which child maltreatment is not tolerated, and
where prevention and intervention services are evidence based, effective,
widely available, and socially valued” (Hammond, 2003, p. 83).
While experts estimate that 1 in 7 girls and 1 in 25 boys—or 1 out
of 10 children—will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday and
that there are approximately 39 million adult survivors of CSA in America,
these numbers are based on only reported and confirmed cases (Finkelhor,
1994; Townsend & Rheingold, 2013). Prominent CSA scholar David Finkelhor
believes that the prevalence of CSA incidents may, in fact, be much higher
despite a decline in reported CSA cases since the early 1990s (Finkelhor &
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Jones, 2006). Prior to this decline, the number of reported CSA cases con-
tinued to increase, beginning with the 1974 passage of the Child Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (1974, Public Law 93-247). Finkelhor
vows to continue his research until he has convinced the American public
that CSA is more prevalent than they would like to imagine (Finkelhor, 1984).
If the public perception of CSA can be influenced by the news media,
which in turn can impact public policy, how then is CSA being portrayed in
the media? This is an important question for child abuse advocates and public
health professionals. This systematic literature review examines the current
body of peer-reviewed research about the news media and CSA in order
to make observations about the current scope and identify areas for further
development. The outline of this review is as follows: a brief history of CSA
and the media, definition of terms, methodology, results, a framework model
categorizing the body of research, followed by discussion and suggestions
for future research.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CSA AND THE MEDIA

The past 50 years of CSA media coverage can be divided into five time
periods based on prominent stories, predominant messages, and legislative
actions (see Table 1). This study focuses largely on the United States but also
includes Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The
first time frame, 1960–1979, is considered the period of discovery of CSA, or
early history. The 1980s, the second time frame, is referred to by CSA legal
historians as a backlash against child protective measures. It was followed by
the passage of strict child sex offender laws throughout the 1990s, the third
stage. During the fourth stage, 2000–2009, there was an intense focus on the
Catholic Church CSA scandals that shifted toward CSA within institutions.
The fifth and current stage, from 2010 to the present, is underscored by
 Child Sexual Abuse and the Media 19

TABLE 1 Stages of CSA Media Coverage

1960–1979 1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2009 2010–Present
Stage Early history Backlash Sex offender Religious High-profile
legislation institutions cases
(United States) involving
institutions
Prominent “The Battered- Day care Child abduction Catholic church Sandusky, Boy
Stories Child centers, cases, stranger (United States Scouts of
Syndrome,” repressed danger and United America
CAPTA memories Kingdom)
Predominant Physicians may Collective Survivors speak Cover up of Institutional
Message be the ones denial out abuses accountability
to discover (1980-84), (1991–1994), spanned many
child physical false sex offender years
and sexual accusations registration,
abuse, should and punitive
report it misconduct measures
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(1985–1990)

the prolonged and intense coverage of the Jerry Sandusky CSA scandal at
Pennsylvania State University and the release of the Boy Scouts of America
“perversion files.”

Early History, 1960–1979

Prior to 1960, U.S. physicians, legislators, and media paid little attention to
the subject of child abuse and neglect. After Henry Kempe’s 1962 publica-
tion of “The Battered-Child Syndrome” and the subsequent media attention
(Nelson, 1986), by 1970, all 50 states had passed legislation mandating that
teachers, doctors, and other professionals report physical abuse (Nelson,
1986). CAPTA led to the creation of the National Center on Child Abuse
and Neglect which, among other things, was involved with more effective
state reporting laws and systems to address reports. It was later replaced
by the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect. At this juncture, recognition of
the physical abuse of children was far greater than that of CSA, prompt-
ing David Walters to remark that “virtually no literature exists on the
sexual abuse of children” (Walters, 1975, p. 4) and for Kempe to cite,
“The sexual abuse of children and adolescents is another hidden pedi-
atric problem and a neglected area” (Kempe, 1978, p. 382). Vincent De
Francis, the first researcher to break new ground on the prevalence of
CSA (Myers, 2008), claimed that the problem of sexual abuse of chil-
dren was of unknown national dimensions but that the findings strongly
pointed to the probability of an enormous national incidence many times
larger than what had been reported (De Francis & American Humane
Association, Children’s Division, 1969). Media coverage of child abuse cases
rose substantially after the introduction of CAPTA. In fact, between 1977 and
 20 J. L. Weatherred

1978, almost every national magazine had published an article about

CSA (Myers, 2008).

The Backlash, 1980–1989

Media interest peaked in the midst of 15 high-profile day care center CSA
cases in the 1980s, contributing to America’s daycare sexual abuse hysteria
(Finkelhor, Williams, Burns, & Kalinowski, 1988, Cheit, 2014). Throughout
this time period media reports about CSA became increasingly critical of
child protective services, characterizing the system as irresponsible and out
of control and likening its advocates to the witch hunters of colonial Salem,
Massachusetts (Hechler, 1988, Cheit, 2014). In response to the news cover-
age, public opinion rose against child protection measures in the 1980s and
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1990s. Child protection legal historian John Myers noted, “There is growing
evidence for a backlash against child protection” (Myers, 1994, p. 17).
The passage of the Child Abuse Victims Rights Act of 1986 enabled CSA
victims to file civil lawsuits against their perpetrators and the institutions that
employed them even after the statute of limitations had run out. At about
the same time, celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey began to disclose past
victimizations. As a result of the heightened media attention, adults across
the country began to recall repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse.
As victims and their psychologists began to delve into these repressed mem-
ories, challengers to this notion began to label them false memories. The
False Memory Syndrome Foundation was established in 1992 by the par-
ents of Jennifer Freyd, a cognitive psychology professor who had recalled
being a victim of incest (Kitzinger & Reilly, 1997). The foundation argues
that it is very difficult to accurately recall memories of systematic abuse from
childhood had that occurred decades earlier. Two successful civil lawsuits
initiated by Ross Cheit, against the man who molested him as a child and the
San Francisco Boys Chorus that employed him, are considered the most well
documented case law examples available to the public (Cheit, 1998; Freyd,
1996).

Sex Offender Legislation, 1990–1999

Throughout the 1990s, news coverage of some of the most horrific child
abduction cases combined with intense lobbying by victims’ parents resulted
in the passage of several sex offender restriction laws. Megan’s Law, known
at the federal level as the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and
Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act of 1994, requires law enforce-
ment to make sex offender registration information available to the public
and requires notification of address and employment status changes, though
details vary by state. There have been several changes since its passage,
 Child Sexual Abuse and the Media 21

including the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act in 2006. However,
politicians and the media continually debate the effectiveness of these laws
in preventing CSA.

Catholic Church, 2000–2009

The CSA committed by priests and covered up by the Roman Catholic Church
have received the most intense and longest running media coverage of any
CSA event. The Pew Research Center documented two spikes in media cov-
erage of the Catholic Church scandal, the first being in 2002 when the Boston
Globe ran a series of articles on clergy abuse in the Boston area. The scandal
spread across the United States, though there was little news coverage in
Europe (Pew Research Center, 2010). The New York Times ran 225 articles
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over the course of 100 days, including 41 consecutive days on the front page
(Nelson, 2009; Plante & McChesney, 2011). Associated Press readers ranked
the Catholic Church scandal the third most important story of 2002 (Cheit,
Shavit, & Reiss-Davis, 2010). Civil lawsuits filed against the Catholic Church
on behalf of victims have resulted in settlements in excess of $2 billion
between 1950 and 2007 (Associated Press, 2007), and, according to watch-
dog website Bishop Accountability, in excess of $3 billion through 2012
(Schaffer, 2012). A second spike in 2010 was heavily concentrated on cleri-
cal CSA throughout Europe and on the Pope (Pew Research Center, 2010).
The intense media focus on the Catholic Church and CSA has led some
scholars to apply media cultivation framework theory to an examination of
how this coverage has impacted public opinion (Mancini & Shields, 2013).

Sandusky and the Boy Scouts, 2010–Present

Media coverage has also been prolonged and intense throughout the arrest
and conviction of retired Pennsylvania State University football coach and
serial pedophile Jerry Sandusky, who is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence
for 45 criminal counts. The university’s former president Graham Spanier,
former vice president Gary Schultz, and former athletic director Tim Curley
face trial on perjury, failure to report suspected child abuse, obstruction of
justice, and conspiracy.
In 2010, the Associated Press, New York Times, Los Angeles Times,
Oregonian newspaper and Oregon Public Broadcasting Corporation actively
enjoined civil lawsuits to prompt a state supreme court judge to approve
the release of decades of more than 1,200 confidential “ineligible volunteers”
compiled by the Boy Scouts of America (Felch & Christensen, 2012). The
“perversion files” were incorporated into an online database hosted by the
Los Angeles Times (Felch & Christensen, 2012). Although the intent of the files
was to prevent scout leaders accused of CSA from serving in other troops in
 22 J. L. Weatherred

the United States, this effort was ultimately unenforceable, and many cases
were never reported to authorities (Felch & Christensen, 2012).

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Psychologists define CSA as contact between a child and an adult or other

person significantly older or in a position of power or control over the child
in which the child is being used for sexual gratification for the adult or other
person (American Psychological Association, 1999). The law defines CSA as
a criminal and civil offense in which an adult engages in sexual activity
with a minor or exploits a minor for the purpose of sexual gratification
(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011). The term media applies to CSA
news stories appearing in newspapers, magazines, tabloid newspapers, and
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television news reports. Media advocacy is the strategic use of the media to
encourage social and public policy changes (Jernigan & Wright, 1996).

METHODOLOGY

A search was performed through EBSCO, JSTOR, MEDLINE, Google Scholar,

Google, and the Web of Social Sciences for English-language articles that
(a) included “child sexual abuse” and “media” in the title, abstract, or key
words; (b) focused its research on CSA and the media; and (c) used qual-
itative, quantitative, or both methods to collect or analyze data about CSA
and the media. Research across disciplines and geographic boundaries were
included; however, research papers that did not utilize qualitative or quantita-
tive methods and articles from non-peer-reviewed sources (e.g., mainstream
media) were excluded.

RESULTS

The initial search of electronic databases yielded 231 articles. Narrowing the
time frame to articles published from January 1, 1995, to December 31, 2012,
resulted in 124 articles that were reviewed for relevancy before the data set
was analyzed. Articles about the effectiveness of CSA prevention and aware-
ness media campaigns were removed because they did not address media
coverage of CSA. Two literature reviews (Gough, 1996; Kitzinger, 1999), three
books (Kitzinger, 2004; Myers, 1994; Nelson, 1986), a master’s thesis (Rossi,
2012), and a research paper (Dorfman, 2003) were removed because they
were not peer-reviewed research. David Gough’s 1996 article, “The Literature
on Child Abuse and the Media,” which focused on the work of British and
Australian scholars, was not systematic or narrowly focused on CSA and was
 Child Sexual Abuse and the Media 23

removed. Two online articles (Dorfman, Mejia, Gonzalez, & Cheyne, 2012;
O’Neil, 2010) about funded research on CSA and the media were included.
A total of 16 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria for this litera-
ture review. Please refer to Table 2 for descriptions of each study discussed
within this review.

Literature Review Framework Model

In order to best categorize the 16 studies about CSA in the media, a frame-
work model was designed (Figure 1). The model reveals that most of the
research was conducted about media message content, a few on public per-
ceptions of CSA media messages, and two on media effects. An interpretation
of the model and the studies within it follows. Ten studies analyzed media
content in an effort to determine themes and patterns within news coverage
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of CSA during a specific time period (Beckett, 1996; Cheit, 2003; Cheit et al.,
2010; Corbella & Collings, 2007; Dorfman et al., 2012; Goddard & Saunders,
2000; Kitzinger & Skidmore, 1995; Mejia, Cheyne, & Dorfman, 2012; Thakker,
2006; Wilczynski & Sinclair, 1999). Of these 10, most analyzed media content
over a 1- to 3-year period. Only 1 adopted a longitudinal approach, analyzing
content over 2 decades (Beckett, 1996). Four out of the 16 examined pub-
lic perception of CSA news stories (Collings, 2002a, 2002b; Kitzinger, 2000;
O’Neil, 2010). Two studies were deemed outliers because they attempted to
determine media effects (Ducat, Thomas, & Blood, 2009; McDevitt, 1996).
One sought to determine the effect of a law on media content (Ducat et al.,
2009), and the other attempted to determine if media content had any effect
on public perception of CSA (McDevitt, 1996). Neither was able to establish
causality (Ducat et al., 2009; McDevitt, 1996).
While the objectives differed, the entire body of research resulted in
similar conclusions. All 16 studies found both media content and audience
perception to be focused on individual blame for CSA. The way in which
media cover CSA is typical of crime stories in general, as an episodic event,
generally highlighting the most egregious, sensationalistic cases. Typical of
this type of news coverage are the “stranger danger” stories resulting in
spikes in CSA news directly related to the arrest and adjudication of the most
extreme offenders and cases. The media spotlight is on the offender and the
criminal justice system rather than the larger societal implications of CSA.
Each study reported that few news stories focused on law and public policy,
CSA as a public health issue, or preventative measures.

Media Studies
This group of studies examined CSA in newspapers, television transcripts,
magazines, and other periodical content. Because of the research focus
on media content, this group is categorized as media studies. Kitzinger
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TABLE 2 Reviewed Studies on CSA and the Media and Relevant Legislation
1960–1979 1980–1989 1990–1999 2000–2009 2010–Present
Australia
Researcha Wilczynski (1995)

Legislationb Serious Sex Offender

Monitoring Act (2005)
New Zealand
Researcha Goddard and Saunders Ducat (2003–2007), Dorfman (2011)
(2000) Thakker (2003)
Legislationb Children, Young Persons,
and Their Families Act
(1989)
South Africa
Researcha Collings 2002a (2000),
Collings 2002b (2000),
Corbella (2001–2004;)

24
Legislationb Criminal Law (Sexual
Offences and Related
Matters) Amendment Act
(2007)
United Kingdom
Researcha Kitzinger and Skidmore Kitzinger 2000 (1991)
1995 (1987)
Legislationb Sexual Offences Act (2003)
United States
Researcha McDevitt (1963–1989) Beckett (1984–1994) Cheit 2003 (1993–2001), Mejia (2007–2009) O’Neil (2010)
Cheit 2010 (1992–2004)
Legislationb CAPTA (1974; amended Child Abuse Victims Jacob Wetterling Crimes Child Abuse Prevention Protection of Vulnerable
1978, 1984, 1988, 1992, Rights Act (1986) Against Children and and Enforcement Act Persons Act, FL (2012);
1996, 2003) Sexually Violent (2000) House Bills 435, 436,
Offender Registration 726, Penn (2013)
Act (1994)
a
Lead author of article, with years studied in parentheses. b Legislation enacted, with year enacted in parentheses.
 Child Sexual Abuse and the Media 25
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FIGURE 1 Literature review framework model.

and Skidmore’s “Playing Safe: Media Coverage of Child Sexual Abuse

Prevention Strategies” is clearly the seminal work within this body of
research. Conducted in the United Kingdom, the study found news cover-
age of CSA episodic, individualistic, and focused on stranger danger with no
mention of greater causality, societal implications, or prevention (Kitzinger &
Skidmore, 1995). The authors found that 71% of newspaper and 83% of tele-
vision coverage were case-based, with very few stories about the causes and
prevention of CSA (Kitzinger & Skidmore, 1995). Recommendations were
offered to CSA advocates, urging them to “capitalize on newsworthy events
in order to promote the prevention debate and try to counter the tabloidiza-
tion of news” (Kitzinger & Skidmore, 1995, p. 54). Although no theoretical
framework was applied, this work is the first to make mention of what will
later be defined as media advocacy in published research about CSA and the
media. And, although this is the seminal work, this group of scholars only
gave it three citations.
American sociologist Katherine Beckett conducted the only longitudinal
study of media representation of CSA (Cheit et al., 2010) and was the first to
apply framing theory. Beckett applied frame analysis to a set of specialized
publications and four news magazines from 1970 to 1994 (Beckett, 1996). She
 26 J. L. Weatherred

found that while the importance of CSA as an issue remained strong over
time, the media frames changed. Different framing patterns were identified,
but the individualistic, episodic focus remained the same.
Cheit attempted to replicate Beckett’s work by applying her frame anal-
ysis to a later time period, however, he found that news stories were about a
wide range of CSA topics and not evenly distributed (Cheit et al., 2010).
A spike was identified in 2002–2003 largely due to coverage of CSA in
the Catholic Church. The spike mimicked the patterns in coverage of crime
by the news media. Ultimately, his findings contradicted Beckett’s claim of
changes in the media over time as he found that the spikes were due to
specific cases, followed by a significant drop, or complete lack of coverage
between 1992 and 2004 (Cheit et al., 2010).
Earlier Cheit established that the severity of CSA cases and number of
charges led to increased news coverage in only a few select cases (Cheit,
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2003). The study successfully challenged the notion of child abuse hysteria
in the media, noting that there were far more actual criminal cases than were
reported in the news (Cheit, 2003). But again, the findings were that news
was focused on the individualistic nature of a few sensational cases and
there was a lack of reporting about the societal implications and reality of
CSA. This article received the second largest number of citations among this
group of scholars, with a total of five.
The most cited work, with six citations, is indistinguishable from previ-
ous research except that it applied moral panic theory, which is based on
the notion that the perception of a threat is not in alignment with the facts
and has been used to analyze media portrayals of child abuse (Edwards &
Lohman, 1994; Jenkins, 1992; Wilczynski & Sinclair, 1999). This work also
included other forms of child abuse in its analysis (Wilczynski & Sinclair,
1999) and was conducted by criminal justice scholars in Australia. They
found that the media focus on the most horrific cases of both physical and
sexual child abuse.
Framing theory and a discussion about potential media effects on public
policies regarding CSA were presented in Thakker and Durrant’s research,
which clearly defined gaps in research about CSA, the media, and public
policy (Thakker, 2006). Their content analysis found the nature of news
coverage of sex offending in New Zealand during a one-year period to
be episodic. Despite their call for future research on the causal relation-
ship between media coverage of CSA and public opinion and policies, they
received only one additional citation from the scholars in this cohort.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of sexual crime in the world, yet
news coverage lags far behind the true extent of the problem throughout the
country (Corbella & Collings, 2007). This study ultimately confirmed Cheit’s
(2003) findings that the number of press reports was much lower than that
of confirmed sex offense cases.
 Child Sexual Abuse and the Media 27

The first scholars to study the language of CSA in the news claimed that
“little attention has been paid to detailed analysis of the language used to
describe child abuse and child victims in media texts” (Goddard, 2000, p. 39).
Results revealed gender neglect; the victim was frequently referred to as “it”
in news stories and this imprecise language amounted to “textual abuse of
the child” (Goddard & Saunders, 2000, p. 44). Although subsequent work by
other scholars would make the very same observations about language used
in CSA news coverage, this work received no citations.
Two content analyses conducted by Berkeley Media Studies Group
(BMSG) and published in 2012 are more recent contributions to this field
of inquiry (Dorfman et al., 2012; Mejia et al., 2012). The first study covered
the period before Sandusky was indicted and charged with CSA crimes and
the second concentrated on the first nine days of Sandusky news coverage.
Both studies made essentially the same conclusions as had previous research,
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but with two important differences: the story angle had shifted from “stranger
danger” to one better representing the reality of CSA, and the media were
more likely to report that a perpetrator was probably someone a child knows
and respects in the community (Mejia et al., 2012). The Sandusky study found
other aspects of news coverage had changed as well. Sports reporters, who
were covering CSA for the very first time, focused on institutional account-
ability (Dorfman et al., 2012). The language in coverage of the Sandusky trial
was more precise and descriptive than in previous cases, possibly because of
the highly accessible and detailed grand jury report released on the Internet
(Dorfman et al., 2012).

Public Perception Studies

A common theme for this small group of public perception studies is that
the global public views CSA as an individual problem and has a poor under-
standing of CSA causes and prevention. The results were almost identical to
the media studies. No clearly identifiable citation pattern exists within this
group. Collings, for example, conducted two studies yet received only one
citation (Collings, 2002a, 2002b).
Kitzinger combined years of focus group research on public perceptions
of CSA news and applied the concepts of media templates and framing
theory (Kitzinger, 2000). Findings revealed that the British public applied
media frames of a previous CSA event to a recent CSA case in the news
(Kitzinger, 2000). Despite the extensive research about both media coverage
and public perceptions of CSA, Kitzinger did not receive any citations for
this particular work from the other scholars.
In both of his studies, Collings found that stereotypical news reports
of CSA have “the potential for influencing social judgments of child sexual
abuse in ways that are likely to create a non-supportive environment for
abuse victims” (Collings, 2002b, pp. 1144–1145; Collings, 2002a). He found
 28 J. L. Weatherred

that offender blame, while good, perpetuated an individualistic view of CSA

and did not have larger implications for the betterment of society (Collings,
2002a).
CSA was addressed within the larger context of sexual violence in a
Frameworks Institute study (O’Neil, 2010). While advocates seek solutions
within a larger social and cultural framework, the American public continues
to see sexual violence as an individual problem.

Media Effects Outliers

Because this group of scholars conducted the only studies to focus on media
effects of CSA news, they are categorized as outliers (Ducat et al., 2009;
McDevitt, 1996). McDevitt investigated the relationship between CSA news
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stories and reports made to a mandated agency over a 25-year period and
found that both media coverage and CSA incident reports increased, usually
after changes in policy, revealing a lack of causality on the part of the media
but suggesting that changes in policy may precede increases in both media
coverage and incident reports (McDevitt, 1996).
A group of Australian psychologists explored the effect of Victoria’s
Serious Sex Offender Monitoring Act of 2005 on newspaper reports of CSA
(Ducat et al., 2009). It was hypothesized that passage of the new law would
influence the extent and nature of media coverage. However, although
the number of news articles doubled, the themes within CSA news stories
remained the same after passage of legislation (Ducat et al., 2009).
Although neither was able to establish causality, the findings reflect that,
within the overall body of work, the media focused on individual blame
without putting CSA into a larger societal context. The media effects outliers
are notable in that they attempted to demonstrate a causality of media cover-
age on public policy or the lack thereof. Expanding the quantity and scope of
news outlets for content analysis and conducting further research about com-
munity perceptions and reactions to CSA news were recommended (Ducat
et al., 2009; McDevitt, 1996).

Theoretical Background
The 16 studies were examined to determine which sought to ground the
research in disciplinary theory and which were descriptive of media content
and/or of audience perceptions of media content. Seven applied the framing
theory of mass communications (Beckett, 1996; Cheit et al., 2010; Dorfman
et al., 2012; Kitzinger, 2000; Mejia et al., 2012; O’Neil, 2010; Thakker, 2006),
one applied moral panic theory (Wilczynski & Sinclair, 1999) and eight made
no use of theory (Cheit, 2003; Collings, 2002a, 2002b; Corbella & Collings,
2007; Ducat et al., 2009; Goddard & Saunders, 2000; Kitzinger & Skidmore,
 Child Sexual Abuse and the Media 29

1995; McDevitt, 1996). Since only half of the studies sought to apply theory,
no strong pattern of theory building emerged, with the exception of framing
theory, which has been dominant from 2010 through 2012.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

That so few studies have been conducted specifically about CSA in the media
was a surprising finding. In the field of media scholarship, particularly health
communication, the communication of risk to the public is an important part
of the process leading to changes in societal treatment and conditions for
improved health for the public at large. In the past, media communication,
specifically the treatment of an issue in the news, has influenced changes
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in societal views and public policies. The use of seat belts, elimination of
smoking in public places, and banning of trans fats in restaurants are a few
examples (Noar, 2006). In many cases real change may only come about with
changes to public health law (Snyder & Hamilton, 2002). Since most people
seek to identify the causes of social problems and assign blame, Americans
frame issues to portray the larger social system as fundamentally sound and
prefer to attribute problems to corrupt, inept, or irresponsible individuals
(Wallack et al., 1993). This results in a lack of attention to the larger issues
of systemic problems within society at large. “Various problems—AIDS, alco-
holism, child abuse, cigarette addiction, drug abuse, and overeating—have
been framed as problems of individuals rather than society” (Hallahan,
1999, p. 220). Shanto Iyengar, in his body of research on the framing of
responsibility for political issues and poverty, argues that news coverage is
dominated by the episodic framing of stories to the exclusion of thematic
framing, further illustrating the framing of responsibility model (Iyengar,
1990, 1996). “An unintended consequence of the preponderance of episodic
framing is that audiences feel absolved of responsibility for social problems
because responsibility is so readily attributed to people portrayed in the
news, whether or not the newsmakers depicted are culpable” (Hallahan,
1999, p. 221).
Since the bulk of research conducted about CSA in the media con-
cluded that CSA is framed as a problem assigned to individuals, inferences
can be made about how the American public views CSA and how this may
or may not lead to changes in public policies. And since Americans, by and
large, view their society and its institutions to be trustworthy and safe, the
perception is that individuals are responsible for CSA and thus remain sep-
arate from institutional or societal culpability. While there have been subtle
changes noted in the Sandusky content analysis study (Dorfman et al., 2012),
the news coverage of CSA continues to be focused on the blame of the indi-
vidual or even individuals within an institution. There is still a very real lack
 30 J. L. Weatherred

of coverage about prevention of CSA and its effects on society, law, and
future public policies.
Will media advocacy efforts change news coverage of CSA in the future?
Media advocacy makes research-based recommendations to the news media
regarding public health policies. Communication strategies that seek to edu-
cate the public about a new law and its importance are examples of social
marketing strategy tactics usually employed by public health practitioners
(Dorfman, 2003). Seat belt laws and their effect on individual behavior
change is an example of an upstream strategy, but the passage of legislation
is the ultimate goal of media advocacy.
The notion that content analyses support media advocacy, which in turn
could alter the way media frame public health issues like CSA, is a good one.
However, as long as the American media and public continue to frame CSA
based on individual assignation of blame, changes in public policy will not
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originate with the media or public opinion.

Content analysis studies of the news can help media advocacy become
more effective in regard to CSA. Scholars should continue their research
in this area, building on previous work and integrating both theory and
methodology across disciplines. In order to increase support for CSA preven-
tion programs and policies, advocates, scientists, and social scientists should
combine and integrate perspectives with the goal of influencing individual
and community decisions that improve health.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article is the product of a graduate-level literature review course taught

by Dr. Keith Kenney, School of Journalism and Mass Communications,
University of South Carolina.

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AUTHOR NOTE

Jane Long Weatherred, MA, is a recent graduate of the School of Journalism

and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina in Columbia, South
Carolina. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science at Hollins
University, Roanoke, Virginia, in 1987. Her current research interests are child
sexual abuse, media, health communication, and public policy.