261163 Breaking News on Child Sexual Abuse at Penn State University

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 9:10 AM - 9:30 AM

Pamela Mejia, MPH, MS , Research Team, Berkeley Media Studies Group, Berkeley, CA
Andrew Cheyne, CPhil , Research Team, Berkeley Media Studies Group, Berkeley, CA
Lori Dorfman, DrPH , Berkeley Media Studies Group, Berkeley, CA
     
The arrest of former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on molestation charges pushed child sex abuse into the spotlight and onto the sports page. We were interested in how the coverage of this high-profile incident compared with our previous analysis of day-to-day news coverage of CSA. We examined the first 9 days of sports and general media coverage following Sandusky's arrest on November 5, 2011. Among other events, our sample included coverage of the firing of legendary head coach Joe Paterno, and stories about Penn State's final home game. We analyzed a sample of more than 150 articles, including general news and sports stories from regional and national newspapers, as well as content from popular sports websites. Our analysis focused on how the media talked about institutional accountability, and the language used to describe the high-profile allegations against Sandusky. We also examined how the stories characterized different actors, including Joe Paterno, Sandusky, and the survivors themselves and how, if at all, the coverage discussed prevention. We compare our analysis of this coverage to earlier reviews of child sexual abuse coverage, and provide recommendations to help advocates increase their visibility in early coverage of future incidents of child sexual abuse cases. We also suggest strategies that advocates can use to influence news coverage so that it better contextualizes CSA and links it to prevention policies.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1.Participants will be able to describe the early coverage of the Penn State abuse, including which individuals and institutions were portrayed sympathetically and who was held accountable. 2. Participants will be able to name at least 2 problems with the way the media reported on the early days of the Penn State scandal. 3. Participants will identify at least 2 action steps that they can take to change the media discussion around child sexual abuse.

Keywords: Sexual Assault, Violence Prevention

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor's in human nutrition and received her master's degree at UC Berkeley in molecular and biochemical nutrition. I have also worked for several years as a clinical research coordinator for English- and Spanish-language nutrition research projects at Children's Hospital Oakland. My research interests include maternal and child health, food justice, and depictions of sexual violence in the media.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4052.0: Preventing and Responding to Family Violence: Research to Practice and Advocacy