Reporting on Sexual Violence in the #MeToo Era

This edited collection examines the role of journalism in reviving and reporting on sexual violence in the #MeToo related, hashtag era. Bringing together 15 journalism scholars from around the world, this book explores and offers solutions to the common issues and inadequacies of reporting on sexual violence in the media. Presenting a range of conceptual, methodological, and empirical chapters, the book tackles issues related to, or missing from, journalism in three sections: Part I acknowledges and surveys the role journalism plays in shining a light on social injustices and critiques research deficits in reporting on sexual violence; Part II employs cutting-edge research linked to an intersectional lens to amplify the voices that have been silenced in the media coverage; Part III explores how advocacy, campaign, and solutions journalism offers frameworks for ethical reporting on the shadow epidemic of sexual violence during these COVID-normal times. This timely and important work connects established and emerging journalism practices to changing discourses about sexual violence. It is an important reading for students and scholars of journalism, gender studies, media studies, communication studies, culture studies, and sociology.

Part I: Issues with Reporting on Sexual Violence in the #MeToo Era 1. Reporting on Sexual Violence in the Pre- and Post-#MeToo 2.0 Era Andrea Baker and Usha Manchanda Rodrigues 2. Objectively Silencing Survivors During #MeToo 2.0: The Case of the US News Media and Donald Trump Lindsey Blumell and Jen Huemmer 3. #MeToo 2.0 as a Critical Incident: Voices, Silencing, and Reckoning in Denmark and Sweden Jannie Møller Hartley and Tina Askanius 4. Marginalizing the Reporting of #MeToo 2.0 With Structural Bias in Japan Misook Lee 5. The Disquieting Demise of a "Watershed" Movement in India Chindu Sreedharan and Einar Thorsen Part II: Intersectionality, Reporting the Missing Gap in the #MeToo Movement 6. The Significance of Intersectionality in the United States’ Media Coverage of the #MeToo 2.0 Movement Carly Gieseler 7. Intersectionality and Hashtag Journalism: Giving Women and Girls of Color a Voice in the United States’ Media Coverage of the R. Kelly Scandals Andrea Baker 8. Exploring the Digital Divide as a Component of Intersectionality Through the #DalitLivesMatter Movement Ali Saha, Usha Manchanda Rodrigues and Paromita Pain Part III: Reporting on Sexual Violence: Advocacy, Campaign and a Solutions Journalism Lens 9. How the #MeToo 2.0 Campaign Changed the Way Norwegian Journalists Write About Rape Thea Storøy Elnan 10. Australian Media, Intersectionality, and Reporting on Violence Against Women from Diverse Backgrounds Usha Manchanda Rodrigues 11. It’s Personal: An Analysis of Reactions to Disclosure of Sexual Violence Victimization in Israel, by Online Textual Testimonies and by VR Illustration Nili Steinfeld and Hila Lowenstein-Barkai 12. Reporting on Sexual Violence During the #MeToo 2.0 Hashtag Era: Can the Media Be an Agent of Social Change? Usha Manchanda Rodrigues and Andrea Baker

Andrea Baker is a senior lecturer in Journalism at the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University in Australia. She is a member of Monash’s Gender and Media Lab, and has published widely in relation to net-radio, urban communication, gender, journalism safety, and reporting on sexual violence in urban music spaces. Usha Manchanda Rodrigues is a professor in Communication at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India. As an experienced journalist and academic, her research crosses vocation-theory binary and national boundaries (India and Australia). She has published widely on the digital transformation of journalism practices, social media and political communication, and representation of cultural diversity in the media.