Magazine coverage of child sexual abuse, 1992-2004.
This article analyzes trends in the coverage of child sexual abuse in popular magazines since the early 1990s. The article employs systematic analysis to identify and analyze articles in four popular magazines. Articles are analyzed by subject, length, and publication. The results affirm established theories of newsworthiness related to the coverage of specific stories over time. However, interest in the subject waned in the past 10 years, with the brief and dramatic exception of coverage connected to the Catholic Church in 2002. The findings demonstrate systematic differences between the slants of the four magazines studied. The findings also suggest that child abuse professionals could improve the quality of coverage by agreeing to interviews in connection with articles about childhood sexual abuse.
Cheit
Ross E
RE
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA. rc@brown.edu
Shavit
Yael
Y
Reiss-Davis
Zachary
Z
D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media / Q000639:trends; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000639:trends*