Suspected perpetrators in reporting are often more powerful than those affected themselves
Despite empathy for the victims of sexual harassment, the media coverage of the #MeToo debate and the resulting “Time's Up” movement are rather damaging because they portray the women affected as weaker than the alleged perpetrators. This is the result of a study by Carnegie Mellon University http://cmu.edu .
“The goal of the movement is to empower women, but according to our computer analysis, that's not what's happening in the news,” says study leader Yulia Tsvetkov.
Women pushed into victim roles
“On the one hand, studies show that #MeToo was able to give a voice to victims of sexual harassment who had previously remained silent on the issue. They were able to free themselves from social stigma and receive emotional and social support. At the same time, the studies also show that #Metoo has led to further harassment online,” says Laura Loths from the University of Hohenheim http://uni-hohenheim.de in the field of business and organizational psychology to pressetext. According to Loths, affected women have fallen into a victim role due to the media discourse, from which they have to free themselves.
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The research team used linguistic data processing to examine which verbs were used in the #MeToo reporting in the context of power, ability to act and also emotional feelings by the media. They wanted to determine how strongly the actors in the #MeToo debate were shown by the media. In total, the researchers analyzed 27,602 articles from 1,576 different media.
Encourage and undermine
It turned out that men appear significantly more powerful than women in reporting, even if they have already been accused of sexual assault. Positive emotional feelings are directed less at those affected than at actors who are not directly involved in the accusations. These include activists, journalists or celebrities who comment on the debate, such as Oprah Winfrey.
Tsvetkov says media outlets need to exercise more caution when reporting on issues like #MeToo. The framework in which they place those affected determines how the public perceives them.
“Journalists can choose which narratives to highlight to support particular representations of people. “They can encourage or undermine a movement like #MeToo,” the researcher points out.
Item image: Shutterstock / By Sundry Photography
Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )