Reporting sexual violence: Preliminary observations from a study in progress

1. Reporting sexual violence:Preliminary observations from a study in progress Lisa Vetten

2. Why the study? • The media performs the following three key functions: • setting the agenda – influencing what people should think about and which issues are important; • framing issues through how it packages information, which in turn affects people’s perceptions of particular issues; and • priming the media’s attention to some issues and not others alters the standards by which people evaluate issues, people or objects. Priming assumes that people are not extensively knowledgeable about many things and so make decisions based on what comes to mind first – which is often what they saw or read in the media.

3. Study aims • What are all the different forms of coverage that sexual violence receives (news, feature, editorial)? • What are the characteristics of rape cases receiving coverage (eg victim, suspect, nature of relationship, injury)? • What aspect of sexual violence does the coverage address? (eg actual rape, trial, policy/law issues, information) • What sources are used? Who are these sources? How often are they used? • How is the story framed? What rape narratives are in use?

4. Study methods • Both quantitative and qualitative • Collection of reports for the following period 1 October 2008 to 30 March 2010 • NATIONAL: Mail and Guardian, Sunday Times, City Press, Sunday Independent, Business Report, The Daily Sun • GAUTENG: Business Day, Citizen, Sowetan, Sunday World, The Star, The Times, Pretoria News • ONLINE: The Times Live, IOL, Mail and Guardian Online, News24, Reuters Africa, Eyewitness News, SABCOnline • Census – we have no idea of the totals so are including every report • Approximately 600 reports collected to date – will be coded, captured and analysed using SPSS (could be another 1 000)

5. Qualitative • Content analysis • May select smaller sub-sample • 1 focus group with journalists from 7 different print publications to help inform design and thinking around study

6. Preliminary observations • There is a substantial amount of coverage of individual rape cases. • Little analysis of rape as a social phenomenon. • Some newspapers carry very little coverage eg Business Day, Mail and Guardian, Sunday Times – may be due to daily vs weekly nature. Also audience. • Also differences within different components of newspapers eg M+G, M+G online and Thought Leader. • Thought Leader would appear to be where most analytic discussion of sexual violence is taking place.

7. Rape has been routinised – is there a hierarchy of horror in place? • There is little to no attention to the political dimensions of sexual violence.

8. The challenge of context: the media • Sexual violence a ‘soft issue’ • Very little specialisation – no depth knowledge or contacts • The audience: what moves the markets, rugby and celebrities; what sells. • Newspapers are becoming smaller, less space, juniorised, cutbacks, demands of the internet. • Time (weekly vs daily), rain, inserts • No readership for violence against women – race and class. Who’s the journalist? Editor?

9. NGOs • Generally poor grasp of how the media works • Little time to write the analysis – put ideas out there • Perceptions about feminism/feminists • Undertsnading hooks and angles

10. The political context