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Telling Tales: Media Power, Ideology and the Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse in Britain (From Crime and the Media: The Post-Modern Spectacle, P 78-106, 1995, David Kidd-Hewitt and Richard Osborne, eds. -- See NCJ-168074)

NCJ Number
168079
Author(s)
P Skidmore
Date Published
1995
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on an ongoing British research project that is exploring the significance of media reports on child sexual abuse, both in relation to public beliefs about child sexual abuse (CSA) and in terms of examining the shifts in types of news coverage about the subject since the mid-1980's.
Abstract
In this research, the media production process is being examined through interviews with journalists, newspaper and television editors, and source agencies. The content of the mass media coverage is being documented through a detailed analysis of the national British press and TV news reports, and the effect of the coverage is being explored through focus group discussions with the public. This paper first provides an overview of developments in media research that are of significance in understanding the "power" of the media. This is then connected to the issue of ideology and news production processes, in particular highlighting the concept of source-media strategies. The findings from the Child Sexual Abuse Project are assessed in relation to this, and conclusions are drawn about the applicability of current theoretical trends within media studies to an understanding of the reporting of sexual assaults against children. The author examines what this means for the public's wider understanding of what to do about CSA and how to do it, as well as what is indicated for theories of media power and ideological control. The issue is whether the media are "telling tales" about the abuse of children that are to be believed. 99 notes and references