TY - JOUR PY - 2013// TI - Framing the problem of sex trafficking: whose problem? what remedy? JO - Feminist media studies A1 - Johnston, Anne A1 - Friedman, Barbara A1 - Shafer, Autumn SP - 419 EP - 436 VL - 14 IS - 3 N2 - News media play an important role in explaining the issue of sex trafficking and may influence discourse among the public and policymakers. Understanding the ways that mass media address sex trafficking has implications for the news industry and the global status of women. This study, a quantitative content analysis, analyzed news coverage of sex trafficking in major US newspapers to understand how the issue was framed during a year of coverage. Using Entman's typology to classify the function of frames, the study focused on how news coverage defined the problem of sex trafficking and identified the remedy. The study found that news coverage of trafficking was overwhelmingly framed as a crime issue (episodic not thematic) and proposed no remedies. Most news coverage favored official sources. Survivors of trafficking and their advocates were the least heard-from sources. The authors argue ultimately that if media are to fulfill their watchdog role where trafficking is concerned, a wider range of news frames and sources is needed.
LA - SN - 1468-0777 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2012.740492 ID - ref1 ER -