Even post-#MeToo, news reporting on sexual violence remains problematic, McGill researchers say

(Press-News.org) Even in the post-#MeToo era, news reporting on sexual violence remains problematic and causes harms, McGill researchers have found.

The researchers conducted a thematic review of academic literature, analyzing 41 relevant articles published between 2013 and 2023 in the Global North to assess whether news coverage of sexual violence has evolved since the #MeToo movement of 2017 had increased awareness.

“Journalistic practices can still problematically portray sexual violence, furthering harmful and lasting impacts for survivors,” said the paper’s co-author, Karen Andrews, a former master’s student at the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE). Andrews was also a research assistant at iMPACTS, a McGill multidisciplinary project to address sexual violence on university campuses led by James McGill Professor Shaheen Shariff.

Andrews, Safeera Jaffer and Shariff considered both media content – focusing on such issues as language, framing, which sources were quoted – and journalists’ working environments.

For example, media reporting on a case might downplay coercion and power dynamics, or use passive voice, which erases the responsibility of the perpetrator and encourages victim blaming, they said. The literature review also found that press coverage gravitates toward victims who are white, cis-gendered, heterosexual women, and tends to obfuscate the role of racism and colonialism in sexual violence.

Co-author Jaffer, also a former master’s student at DISE and a fellow research assistant at iMPACTS, said the review found a lack of engagement with ethical guidelines and very little training and education for journalists, highlighting the importance of education and supportive work environments.

“This research is particularly important for journalists and journalism outlets who aim to report ethically,” said Jaffer. “This also matters for researchers who focus on these topics, because they must also understand the systems and structures that shape the environment journalists are working within.

“We cannot just expect journalists to write ethical and trauma-informed articles about sensitive topics like sexual violence without education or training and a supportive work environment,” she said.

About the study “Powerful yet Disempowered: A Thematic Literature Review Exploring the Challenges of Media Reporting on Sexual Violence” by Karen Andrews, Safeera Jaffer and Shaheen Shariff, was published in the Journal of Communication Inquiry.

This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and iMPACTS: Collaborations to Address Sexual Violence on Campus, an SSHRC Partnership Project.

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