Professional Documents
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Briana Edwards-Final Paper 1
Briana Edwards-Final Paper 1
Briana Edwards-Final Paper 1
Briana Edwards
Media Analytics
Elon University
coverage in the media. By applying the agenda-setting theory as a theoretical framework, this
study examined newspaper coverage of sex trafficking and aims to determine if this coverage has
created a moral panic in their United States readership. A content analysis of 30 online articles
from CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times was conducted to determine if the
media coverage of sex trafficking has created a moral panic. The study indicates that the
overwhelming majority of claims made about sex trafficking are not supported by evidence and
can be categorized as either informative or case-specific. This study also indicates that these
newspapers have not contributed to the creation of a moral panic but instead, have detracted from
anti-sex trafficking efforts by focusing on cases instead of advocating for anti-trafficking efforts.
Keywords: sex trafficking, moral panic, newspaper, content analysis, agenda-setting theory
Introduction
In July of 2019, Jeffrey Epstein, a prominent financier, was charged with one count of sex
trafficking a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking (Halleman,2019). This
tragic case of sexual abuse gripped national news outlets in the United States and around the
world due to the prominence of the alleged perpetrator combined with the public’s fear of sex
trafficking. This case has motivated critical discussions within the public about the realities of
traffick victims, the likelihood of one to be trafficked and, the alleged prevalence of sexually
Media coverage of sex trafficking, which involves some form of coerced sexual
exploitation that is not limited to prostitution, has increased exponentially within recent years
(Kiss and Zimmerman 2017; Johnston, Friedman, and Shafer 2014). Many scholars, noting the
increase in coverage, have studied the influence of media coverage on the salience of a particular
issue (Brosius, Hans-Bernd, and Hans Mathias Kepplinger 1990).This phenomena, referred to as
the agenda setting function of the media, or the agenda-setting theory specifically, addresses the
media’s role in determining what audiences, viewers and readers think about (Severin and
Tankard 2001). While increased coverage and awareness should aid in the elimination of this
crime, researchers have found that increased coverage contributes to the creation of a culture of
fear surrounding sex trafficking, the vilification of certain groups and, desensitizes the public to
the issue. Furthermore, this increased coverage, which rarely includes claims supported by
evidence, has contributed to the creation of a moral panic,“intense feelings of concern about a
given threat which a sober assessment of the evidence suggests is either nonexistent or
considerably less than would be expected from the concrete harm posed by the threat” within the
general public (Johnston, Friedman, and Shafer 2014; Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994). Very little
research has been done on the influence of the media in the creation of moral panics surrounding
sex trafficking, specifically. This study will aim to fill in the knowledge gaps and create a
This study, by conducting a content analysis of 30 news articles from CNN, The
Washington Post, and The New York Times examined the usage of evidence by newspapers to
report on sex trafficking. Furthermore, this study aims to determine if media coverage has
contributed to sex trafficking becoming a moral panic and discuss the effects of sensationalized
media coverage on public discourse about trafficking in the United States. The contribution of is
its value in critiquing the news media for inflating headlines with a lack of evidence thus
contributing to a culture of fear. Secondly, this study will identify and critique the agenda-setting
function of the media as an abuse of power and a lack of basic journalistic integrity by not
providing evidence for claims. Last, the findings of this study will contribute to the
demystification of sex trafficking reports, cases and, fears in the United States.
Literature Review
While the influence of media coverage on the salience of sex trafficking in the United
States is discussed by survivors and the public, there is very little scholarly research regarding
this subject. This literature review first, covers the scholarly definition of sex trafficking in the
United States. Secondly, it covers the agenda-setting function of the media and its influence on
the salience of sex trafficking within public discourse. Lastly, this literature review discusses the
definition, and implications of moral panics and the media’s culpability in creating an
Sex trafficking is a form of coerced or forced sexual exploitation that is not limited to
prostitution (Kiss & Zimmerman, 2017). This form of human trafficking is often economically
motivated with the kidnapping and forced exploitation of children composing about 55.6% of all
reported cases in the United States (Johnston et al., 2014). In response to the increase in sex
trafficking cases, both scholars and survivors have emphasized the importance of addressing the
causal pathways to trafficking for both perpetrators, victims, and survivors. Socioeconomic
realities, immigration statuses and ethnic identity are often exploited to coerce men and women
into sex trafficking. Survivors suggest that law enforcement agencies, social programs, and the
United States government take an offense approach to trafficking to end the societal conditions,
and platforms that allow trafficking to thrive in the United States. (Kiss and Zimmerman, 2017).
In response to the suggestions from the public, legislation was passed to regulate the platform
In the United States, an overwhelming majority of sex trafficking occurs via the internet,
specifically sites like Seeking Arrangement, Backpage, and Craigslist (Polich, 2019). In response
to this, the United States passed two bills known as Fighting Online Sex Trafficking Act
(FOSTA) and Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA). This set of laws, in essence, holds
websites criminally responsible for the advertisement and solicitation of sex on their platforms.
In theory, they would curtail sex trafficking in the United States. However, in practice, they put
victims of sex trafficking at a higher risk of danger (Polich, 2019). Consequently, traffickers have
returned to kidnapping and trafficking women that they personally know as online trafficking
becomes increasingly difficult in the United States. These laws did not end trafficking, they
Ratification of these laws directly coincides with the exponential increase in media
coverage of sex trafficking cases in the United States. Although the sexual exploitation of men
and women is not new, in recent years, topic salience has increased (Johnston et al., 2014).
Depictions of sex trafficking in movies, the news, and in personal stories have followed a rescue
narrative where victims, who are typically young white women, are saved from nefarious
predators. The media relies on sensationalized headlines that promote a culture of fear about sex
trafficking, with no evidence to support proposed claims (Johnston et al., 2014). The increase in
topic salience embodies the agenda-setting function of the media. This function has evolved from
solely encompassing salience into encompassing the framing that influences topic salience as
well.
The media has several different functions in modern society. Though a formal list of these
functions does not exist, informing audiences of important events remains central. Considering
this function of the news, it is the responsibility of the media to decide what events are important
and to translate this importance to listeners, viewers and readers. In efforts to stay unbiased, the
function of the media is not to influence what audiences think about certain topics but, to
influence what topics they think about most often. This is the agenda-setting function of the
The agenda-setting theory, proposed by McCombs and Shaw, has become the standard
for measuring and critiquing the media’s influence on topic salience within the public discourse
(Weaver, 2007). This theory is “the media’s capability through repeated news coverage, of
raising the importance of an issue in the public’s mind” (Severin and Tankard, 2001).
Agenda-setting does not solely influence what the audience thinks per se but instead, largely
influences what the audience thinks about. With the emergence of new forms of media and the
among scholars (Fortunato & Martin, 2016). Agenda-setting research initially tested the transfer
of topic salience based on the amount of coverage a topic received and evolved to include
questions of transfer of salience through how the issue was presented. With the emergence of
new forms of news reporting, such as citizen journalism, the definition of agenda-setting has now
extended to encompass both the media and public agenda (Fortunato & Martin, 2016). Critics of
the agenda-setting theory often argue that it is not only the salience of coverage that influences
that what the audience thinks but, their personal experiences, real-world conditions, and group
perspectives (Erbring et al., 1980). This view critiques the belief that the media is the sole
gatekeeper of information and solely influences what the public thinks about. As communication
environments change, the spread of newsworthy stories more frequent and the news itself more
accessible, the media must change their communication strategy to reach their target audiences.
garner both readership and viewership. Consequently, audiences now measure the importance of
a particular topic through visual, or salient cues, instead of the true importance of the content.
Salience cues, particularly, in newspapers are vital in the audience determining what to pay
attention to. These cues include the hierarchical arrangement of information, placement within
the edition, and the title itself (Conway & Patterson, 2008). The media that is chosen to report a
story has a dramatic and distinct impact on the perceived importance of the topic and the
audience’s exposure to it. However, overexposure, regardless of the chosen medium, can have
adverse effects on sociocultural attitudes towards a particular topic and can culminate in a moral
Moral Panics are intense feelings of concern about a given threat which a sober
assessment of the evidence suggested is either nonexistent or considerably less than would be
expected from the concrete harm posed by the threat” (Ben-Yehuda and Goode,1994). According
to Ben-Yehuda and Goode, in order for a phenomenon to be considered a moral panic five
1. Concern, which is heightened and measurable in polls, proposed legislation, and social
movement activity;
2. Consensus, a certain measure of agreement that the threat is real and imminent;
3. Hostility, which culminates in the vilification of certain groups of people and the creation
of an “us vs. them” dichotomy;
4. Disproportionality, the assumption that the concern is out of proportion to the nature of
the threat;
5. Volatility, the assumption that moral panics erupt suddenly and violently.
The media coverage of sex trafficking, which is often devoid of evidence to support
proposed claims has exponentially increased in recent years (Johnston et al., 2014). This lack of
evidence directly coincides with the beginning of a moral panic within the public. Despite this,
very little research has been conducted to examine the media’s role in increasing topic salience
about sex trafficking its culmination into a moral panic.
While several studies have addressed the salience of sex trafficking, little efforts have
been made to examine the influence of topic salience on the creation of a moral panic. In order to
fill the gap in research, this study will look at current media coverage and analyze the effects of
its salience on public panics about sex trafficking. By performing a content analysis of online
articles that discuss sex trafficking from The New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post this
study will address the following two questions.
RQ1: Do newspapers use evidence or non-evidence based arguments in terms of covering sex
trafficking?
RQ2: What types of moral panic languages are used in the coverage of sex trafficking?
Methods
A content analysis, “is a tool that allows us to look at the way messages change over
time and vary across mediums and outlets.” (Content Analysis, 2017) This analysis included 10
articles, from The Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times for a total of 30 articles from
The Washington Post, CNN, and The New York Times were chosen as they are three of the
top five highest circulating newspapers in the United States and have a very large readership
(Agility 2019). Fifteen articles from each website, a total of 30, were analyzed to answer
Research Question 1 and Research Question 2. In order to select these samples, the author
contacted the Library of Congress and requested all articles, from each media source, that use the
word “sex trafficking” from September of 2015 to September of 2019. This timeframe was
chosen as research has proven that sex trafficking has risen within the last five years in the
United States (Human Trafficking 2019). In order to eliminate selection bias, a random number
generator was used to generate 10 numbers ranging from 1 to the amount of articles found for
each media source. The articles that coincide with the randomly selected numbers were selected.
use evidence or non-evidence based arguments in terms of covering sex trafficking?” each article
was coded for evidence to support claims made about sex trafficking in the United States.
Articles that utilized statistics, were considered evidence-based , if there is no evidence used, the
language and article were considered non-evidence based. The coding categories, evidence based
and non-evidence based, are listed below along with their definitions.
Moral Panic. In order to examine Research Question 2, “What types of moral panic
languages are used in the coverage of sex trafficking?” each article was coded for the criteria of
a moral panic as established by Erich Goode and Nachman Ben-Yehuda in 1994. The criteria, the
definitions and the specific words, themes, and phrases that were coded for each criteria are
listed below. The author took special consideration when coding to ensure that words were
Coding Book
Medium 1 = BBC
2 = WP
3= NYT
RQ1: Do newspapers use evidence or non-evidence based arguments in terms of covering sex
trafficking?
-statistics with no
citations
-scholarly references
RQ2: What types of moral panic languages are used in the coverage of sex trafficking?
stereotypes of
perpetrators
fear
Serious
Imminent
harmful,
dangerous,
responsibility
(responsible),
research question 1. Frequencies, using a coding sheet, will also be used to report the findings
Findings
This section is organized based on the language used in online newspaper articles from
CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, regarding sex trafficking, and, the analysis
of the prevalence of the criterion of moral panics including: consensus, concern, hostility,
arguments in terms of covering sex trafficking?” the author analyzed ten articles from CNN, The
Washington Post, and The New York Times respectively, for their usage of evidence as a means to
support proposed claims. The author considered the usage of statistics with citations and the
usage of scholarly references, evidence-based. The usage of statistics, or any numerical claim
without supporting citations was considered non-evidenced based. The findings for each media
The percentage of evidence-based language used in CNN and The Washington Post
articles both equal 20% from September of 2015 to September 2019 with the usage of
non-evidenced based language was 80%. The percentage of evidence-based languages used in
The New York Times is 70% and the percentage of non-evidenced based language is 30% from
Moral Panic
To answer Research Question 2, “What types of moral panic languages are used in the
coverage of sex trafficking?”, the author analyzed ten articles from CNN, The Washington Post,
and The New York Times, respectively, in order to examine the prevalence of the criteria of moral
panics. This criteria includes: concern, consensus, hostility, disproportionality, and volatility. The
Concern 5 50%
Consensus 3 30%
Hostility 5 50%
Disproportionality 4 40%
Volatility 4 40%
Concern 2 20%
Consensus 3 30%
Hostility 1 10%
Disproportionality 6 60%
Volatility 5 50%
Concern 5 50%
Consensus 1 10%
Hostility 3 30%
Disproportionality 4 40%
Volatility 1 10%
The study analyzed the usage of language in the creation of a moral panic. The author
found that CNN articles coincided with the criteria of a moral panic the most with 50% of articles
showing concern about sex trafficking, 30% showing consensus, 50% showing hostility, 40%
showing disproportionality, and 40% showing volatility. The Washington Post moderately used
language that coincides with the criteria of a moral panic with 20% of articles showing concern,
30% showing consensus, 10% showing hostility, 60% showing disproportionality, and 50%
showing volatility. The New York Times used the least amount of language that coincides with
the criteria of a moral panic with 50% of articles showing concern about sex trafficking, 10%
showing consensus, 30% showing hostility, 40% showing disproportionality, and 10% showing
volatility.
Discussion
Utilizing a content analysis of online articles from CNN, The Washington Post and, The
New York Times, this study aimed to analyze the usage of evidence based langauge in articles
regarding sex trafficking to conclude if the usage of this language has created a moral panic.
While the primary purpose of this study was to examine the influence of language on cultural
fears, this analysis shed light on several interesting trends, themes and insights regarding the
by CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post can be placed into two distinct
in the findings section, over half of the articles in this study lacked evidence to support claims
made about sex trafficking in the United States. This lack of evidence presents itself in several
ways including: statistics about sex trafficking with no citations, a lack of scholarly sources to
support claims and, a lack of evidence to support inflammatory titles. This lack of evidence is a
The primary function of the newspaper is to inform the readership of local, national and
international happenings. With this function comes an obligation to report facts along with the
evidence to support said facts. The findings are an abuse of the ever evolving watchdog function
of the media which is to control, [the] “ethics, laws, technology, organization, and the content of
news stories.” (Francke, 1995) This abuse culminated in several articles that made claims that
did not utilize any citations, statistics, or links to relevant research. Instead, the reported severity
of sex trafficking has been inflated with no evidence to support claims. These statements are not
only harmful to active efforts of sex trafficking but they also show a disregard for journalistic
integrity regarding the very sensitive subject of sex trafficking. Despite this, it is important to
note that 63% of articles in this study were case specific and utilized narrative story-telling
victim of sex trafficking, and recounted the story. These narrative style articles did not provide
general information about sex trafficking but instead reported the details about a very specific
case of sex trafficking. Interestingly, over half of the case-specific articles involved American
financier and convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein in some capacity. These articles detailed his
alleged crimes, crimes he was convicted for and, his recent suicide. There was a noticeable
disregard for the statements of his victims, with each media choosing to talk about his victims
instead of directly to them. Instead, statements from Epstein, co-conspirators, and friends,
dominated each article. The disregard for the victim’s statements perpetuates the belief that
victims of sex trafficking do not have agency. Furthermore, these case-specific articles, simply
tell the story of Jeffrey Epstein, and other cases, without providing a call to action for their
readership to become more aware of sex trafficking. With the influence of the media in the
perception of sex trafficking, comes the responsibility to charge the readership to make a change.
The findings of this study indicate that CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post do
trafficking?
The findings of this study indicate that the language utilized by CNN, The New York
Times and The Washington Post, likely contribute to cultural fears regarding sex trafficking but,
have not likely caused a moral panic. Each media utilized extremely loaded language likely as a
means to garner emotion in their readership. This language included: extremely graphic accounts
of sexual abuse, statistics about sex trafficking and, anecdotes about the experiences of sex
trafficking victims. This focus on ethos instead of logos directly correlates to the percentage of
disproportionality in each article, which likely induces fear in readership but does not cause a
moral panic. While each media did show concern, consensus, hostility, disproportionality, and
volatility the presence of these criteria is not significant enough to constitute a moral panic. Due
to the limited scope of the content analysis, the percentage of present criteria may not be
representative of CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post as a whole.
Conclusion
This study sought to examine the influence of media coverage on sex trafficking and to
determine if this coverage has created a moral panic. This study determined that an
overwhelming majority of online news articles from CNN, The Washington Post, and The New
York Times do not use evidence to support claims made about sex trafficking. Furthermore, this
study also found that while these media have not created a moral panic regarding sex trafficking,
there is evidence of each criteria. Several articles, from each media, are case-specific and do not
advocate for the abolishment of sex trafficking but instead report on very specific sex trafficking
cases. For example, many cases from September of 2015 to September of 2019, focus on
American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This case-specific focus detracts
from active anti-trafficking efforts and does not provide information about the realities of sex
trafficking or how their readership can advocate for anti-trafficking efforts. However, it must be
noted that this case was limited in scope. These three newspapers are not representative of the
newspaper industry as a whole and this study could only make conclusions based on these three
newspapers specific content. In addition, the content was limited to four years and thus did not
capture articles that discussed sex trafficking during other years. Finally, this study was limited
by political bias. CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times are all left leaning
political sources. Future research could examine right-leaning news sources in order to provide a
balanced look at media coverage on sex trafficking. Ulitimately, there exists a knowledge gap
regarding the media’s influence on public perceptions of sex trafficking. Future research could
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Description of coding categories
Coding Book
Medium 1 = BBC
2 = WP
3= NYT
RQ1: Do newspapers use evidence or non-evidence based arguments in terms of covering sex
trafficking?
-statistics with no
citations
-scholarly references
RQ2: What types of moral panic languages are used in the coverage of sex trafficking?
fear
Serious
Imminent
harmful,
dangerous,
responsibility
(responsible),