Research On Media Image And Media Ethics Of Sexual Assault-Related Reports Of The New York Times

The New York Times,an American newspaper,revealed in October 2017 multiple sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein,a famous American film producer.Since then,Metoo movement,a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault,began to spread virally across social media in the US.Many victims voiced out allegations against sexual predators and shared stories of sexual assault or sexual harassment,promoting awareness and understanding of the deep-seated social problem.Media is a crucial medium for people to understand sexual assault,so how media publishes news about sexual assault is an academically relevant topic.This research selects the New York Times news report on sexual assaults as the research subject and 571 news articles,ranging from October 2016 to October 2018,as research samples.Adopting content analysis and case analysis as research methods,the thesis analyses and discusses the features,news framework,media image and media ethics of the research samples under the theoretical framework of Frame Theory and Potter Box.As the research finds out,sexual assault-related news reports on the New York Times are mostly in the form of news stories,complemented by commentaries.After the Metoo movement began,the number of news reports on the New York Times skyrocketed and more emphasis has been put on long reports.The focus of news framework has transformed from revealing sexual assault incidents to discussing the consequences of allegations to sexual predators.Meanwhile,the newspaper also dedicates to reports on what figures indirectly involved in cases say or do and changes on sexual assault-related policies as well as cultures.In terms of media image in news report,victims of sexual assault are depicted as people who summon the courage to reveal sexual assaults,face adversities in seeking justice and rally robust support from the society.As for sexual predators,they are depicted as powerful people who categorically deny allegations of sexual assault and are punished by the society in various ways.Using Potter Box to analyse the moral decision-making of the newspaper,the study finds that the New York Times can accurately report on sexual assault-related cases as well as balance journalistic ethics and social ethics while maximizing news value.For the last two steps of Potter Box,the newspaper is prone to adopt Kant's Categorical Imperative,Rawls' Veil of Ignorance and Agape Principle as ethical principles while staying loyal to media audiences and victims.On the subject of sexual assault-related news report,academic literature in China lacks in-depth analysis on media image and media moral decision-making while foreign academic literature has found a rather simplistic and negative media image of victims.As a result,this study paints a more comprehensive picture of media image of both sexual predators and victims in the New York Times and provides an example for media in China to learn from in terms of news report on sexual assaults.