0:00:00.7 Laura Palumbo: Welcome to Resource On The Go. A podcast from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center on understanding, responding to and preventing sexual abuse and assault. I'm Laura Palumbo, and I'm the Communications Director at NSVRC. Today's episode explores sexual violence in the media by examining traditional print media reporting in the US between the years of 2014 to 2017. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Laura Kollar, a behavioural scientist at the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Laura worked with a team of authors, including myself, who recently published an article in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, MMWR, titled Sexual Violence in the Media: An Exploration of Traditional Print Media Reporting in the United States, 2014 to 2017. In this conversation, we will be discussing how this research project came about and what the data can help us understand about media portrayals of sexual violence and their potential influence on public perceptions.

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0:01:20.8 LP: Thank you so much for joining us today, Laura. Can you tell our listeners a little more about yourself and your work? 

0:01:27.2 Dr. Laura Kollar: Yes, thank you so much Laura, for having me today. As you mentioned, I'm a behavioural scientist, with CDC's Division of Violence Prevention in our Injury Center, and I work in sexual violence prevention in other areas. My background is in health communication, and I have a wide variety of interests that are influenced by communication, including the health messages across different project areas, and these include sexual violence prevention, online and interactive media communities, American-Indian and Alaska native violence prevention, and then specifically around missing or murdered indigenous people.

0:02:05.1 LP: Thank you. Now, how did this research project come about, what was the central question you and the team were interested in answering? 

0:02:13.2 DK: So the project came about after 2018 when CDC's Division of Violence Prevention, and you all at NSVRC released the Reporting on Sexual Violence Media Guide. We were interested in understanding the impact of this guide, and in order to do that, we just needed to get some baseline information. And so our question, our research was led by this question, What did media report from 2014 to 2017 on sexual violence? And from there, we formed a team of experts inside and outside of CDC, led by our former Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Fellow, Olivia Egan.

0:02:55.0 LP: And how did past research and what was already known about sexual violence media portrayal shape the study? 

0:03:01.6 DK: So we looked at the years 2014 to 2017 because we based it off of past research that was similar, specifically the Berkeley Media Studies Group released sexual violence news coverage most often about rape or sexual assault of adults and older teens from research they did from 2011 to 2013 on media articles. They also found other topics and present, such as child sexual abuse, sexual harassment and trafficking and exploitation within that research study. So our goal was to fill the gap and understand media coverage from 2014 to 2017 as it related to geographic regional such as Midwest versus northeast, and time by year differences, and so 2014 versus 2017 coverage. So we most closely looked to understand how sexual violence language was used because words are powerful in shaping our norms and our perceptions.

0:04:07.1 LP: Okay, that makes sense. Words are very powerful in shaping norms and perceptions. I think one of the things that we hear all the time is that our society and culture is media-saturated from the perspective of those working to end sexual harassment, abuse and assault, what's the value of examining media? 

0:04:25.1 DK: So there's a lot of value in that. It's important to understand that media saturation can lead to message fatigue or that people get tired of seeing and hearing the same messages over and over. So what we wanna understand is, when people do pay attention, what are the messages and what messages can news and others use as best practices for reporting on sexual violence. So this information can help sexual violence experts, practitioners and others reinforce primary prevention messages, such as what sexual violence is, how we can prevent it, and then also it can provide information about how to respond to it. As we mentioned in the sexual violence media guide, part of our messaging is using non-biased and neutral language while clearly naming the behaviours. So for example, we may prefer using sexual violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse or rape versus saying sex scandal.

0:05:25.2 LP: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I really like the point that you make about how this examining the media gives us this opportunity to reinforce prevention messages that may not be present in that media coverage. So this research drew heavily on the Sexual Violence Media Guide developed by CDC and NSVRC, which includes definitions, key terms, statistics and language considerations, and was developed to aid the media in reporting on this topic. Similar to the example that you provided, it covers suggestions for language, such as using alleged perpetrator or perpetrator if an individual is convicted, it also includes language to avoid such as accuser. Why are these differences in language so important and how did the Sexual Violence Media Guide play a role in this research? 

0:06:16.3 DK: So it's really important for a sexual violence work and reporting to support survivors and victims and use language that does not place blame on victims. Like I said before, language is powerful, it's important to use the most accurate term for describing acts versus a euphemism, like using forced oral and genital contact versus saying, performing oral sex. The latter assumes the victim was a primary actor and was not forced. So the SV Media Guide that was used to develop coding methods to better understand the reporting during this 2014 to 2017 time period. It provides more information on why certain words matter, and thinking through terms such as a person had sex or a person was raped, where the term sex and rape have very different meanings, sex implies a consensual act, whereas rape does not. So it's important to use these most accurate terms to describe sexual violence as a non-consensual act and behaviour.

0:07:26.3 LP: And when the media isn't using that really accurate terminology, it really reinforces some of those harmful messages that steer away from prevention. So thank you so much for exploring the value that the media guide offers to those who are covering sexual violence, as well as for all of us to be considering the language we use and the impact that it has in being accurate and potentially placing blame on the victims. So another interesting element of this research is the time period of the study which examined media reporting from 2014 to 2017, and you found some significant differences in the types of sexual violence covered and language used in 2017 compared to 2014 to 2016. The discussion notes the resurgence of the Me Too movement in the fall of 2017 as a potential factor. Why might this have been significant, is there something for us to learn from the potential of social movements such as Me Too in shifting media discourse and public dialogue? 

0:08:37.3 DK: Yes, so the Me Too movement really expanded the public conversation around sexual violence and changed norms that it is okay and it is acceptable to talk about all types of sexual violence, and this ranges from verbal sexual harassment to rape, so we need to really do more work to understand the impact of Me Too, particularly on media coverage, because it's possible that me too help expand news coverage around sexual violence, specifically sexual assault in 2017, which was reflected in our findings. It's also important to note that there were decreases in reporting on rape and sex trafficking, which could be due to the limited news or space available for sexual violence news coverage.

0:09:27.3 LP: Yes. It is really interesting to think about how Me Too, as a movement, potentially had a role because of how it expanded the public conversation around sexual violence, and it seems like there's, as the movement has continued, a lot for us to consider for the future and look ahead to future research to explore. Although this research looked at news media coverage and drew from tools for journalists such as the Sexual Violence Media Guide, what do you think some of the takeaways are for those that are not directly working with media such as public health officials and practitioners? 

0:10:10.3 DK: The key take away from this is that different organisations and sectors can really work together to prevent sexual violence. This work shows the potential for partnerships to be built or strengthened between media, public health, sexual violence practitioners and communities. So one goal may be to incorporate suggested language from the SV media guide into existing sexual violence work across all sectors, so public health, law enforcement and media. This would allow us to better support survivors, victims and those affected by sexual violence, and also the suggested language provides clear, unbiased messages about sexual violence.

0:10:55.6 LP: And that is such a great point, and I really do love this takeaway of different sectors working together to prevent sexual violence. At NSVRC, we have found so much value in working directly with media to help inform their coverage. Many of the journalists we work with really want to get it right, but actually need support in understanding the issue and need the guidance of experts, and so it's really great how this research underscores that. But I also love this point that you're making about it being an example for other sectors as well, because we know that public health and law enforcement and various sectors, there's a lot of the same issues when it comes to language, and it may actually be the case that the language that law enforcement is using, is something that media are then repeating in their news coverage, and so it really seems like there's a great value for these partnerships across sectors where language and its significance is acknowledged and that the more work there is in that area, the more it will impact media as a by-product. So are there any other important takeaways or insights from this area of research that we haven't had a chance to discuss yet? 

0:12:21.0 DK: Yes. I think that it's important to remember that research is innovative and it provides different opportunities for a strengthened partnerships, improved reporting and messaging on sexual violence. I also wanna note that only one form of media was reviewed in this, it was traditional print media or what we may traditionally think of as newspapers, and that social media and other forms of communication allow for more interaction between readers and users through comments and reply functions this interaction with media may be worth exploring to understand how the public perceive sexual violence news and how they respond to it, and to better understand what's going on within the conversation around sexual violence prevention.

0:13:07.3 LP: That makes a lot of sense. Although, again, there's still a lot that we can learn from the media that was reviewed in the study, traditional print media, it does seem like the wide use of social media and other forms of communications and how it creates that space for a dialogue is definitely going to be worth exploring more in the future. So along the lines of looking ahead, what are some areas for further research and new questions that you are grappling with as a researcher following the study? 

0:13:44.1 DK: We're interested in continuing to see what impacts the Sexual Violence Media Guide may have in communities and potentially have a follow-up study after the guide was released. In a group at CDC, that's led by Dr. Melissa Mercado, we're interested in the role of online communities and interactive media, particularly as a violence prevention protective factor, promoting social connections. In the summer of 2020, Dr. Nick Bowman from Texas Tech University and Dr. Grace Ahn from University of Georgia, and I published a piece on the potential for interactive media, video games and virtual reality as tools for violence prevention. So violence prevention messages are spread in many ways, and this occurs across all forms of media, we need to learn how to more effectively use technology in our violence prevention work.

0:14:41.3 LP: I think that's a really great big picture note for us to wrap up on, and it's really cool to see how that goal of learning how to effectively use technology in our violence prevention work has led to you studying different areas of interactive media and online communities, specifically video games and virtual realities. I think that it makes a lot of sense why that would be a space for violence prevention, but also it is, I think a really... It was also a really great example of thinking out of the box when it comes to technology and prevention, so that's really cool to learn about as well. Well, thank you Laura, so much for talking with me today. As an advocate and practitioner, it was so meaningful to be able to contribute to this project and learn along the way, and I learned a lot from you and the research team, it was really a very cool experience to be involved. I know our listeners will come away with a lot of great information that you've shared with us. Thanks so much.

0:15:44.6 DK: Thank you for having me.

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0:16:17.8 LP: Thanks for listening to this episode of Resource On The Go, for more information and resources about preventing sexual assault, visit our website at www.nsvrc.org. You can also get in touch with us by email at resources@nsvrc.org.