When new media make news: Framing technology and sexual assault in the Steubenville rape case

Abstract

The 2013 Steubenville, Ohio, rape case featured a sadly familiar story of juvenile acquaintance rape involving star football players; what captured national interest in the case, however, was how the rapists and peer witnesses alike captured video and photos of the sexual assault and disseminated them swiftly and publicly via social media sites. This qualitative textual analysis utilizes framing theory to explore how national news coverage framed new media technology in relation to the Steubenville rape case, particularly how technology was framed as witness, galvanizer, and threat during the rape and its aftermath. Implications of these frames, as well as a lack of broader sexual assault context in the media coverage, are considered.

Keywords

Anonymous framing theory journalism new media news media rape culture social media Steubenville textual analysis viral media

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Associated Press (2013a) Defense: Move Ohio football players’ rape trial. Associated Press, 12 January. Available at: http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/defense-move-ohio-football-players-rape-trial

Associated Press (2013b) Ohio judge won’t move football players’ rape trial. Associated Press, 31 January. Available at: http://www.daily-jeff.com/ap%20state/2013/01/31/ohio-judge-won-t-move-football-players-rape-trial

Baym

(2010) Personal Connections in the Digital Age. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

Berrington

Jones

(2002) Reality vs. myth: constructions of women’s insecurity. Feminist Media Studies 2(3): 307–323.

Bolter

Grusin

(1999) Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Boswell

Spade

(1996) Fraternities and collegiate rape culture: why are some fraternities more dangerous places for women? Gender & Society 10(2): 133–147.

boyd

(2014) It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Bumgarner

(2007) You have been poked: exploring the uses and gratifications of Facebook among emerging adults. First Monday 12(11). Available at: http://firstmonday.org/article/view/2026/1897

Burt

(1980) Cultural myths and supports for rape. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 38(2): 217–230.

10.

Chen

(2011) Tweet this: a uses and gratifications perspective on how active Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with others. Computers in Human Behavior 27(2): 755–762.

11.

Clark-Flory

(2015) Close to homeless, Steubenville hacker Deric Lostutter turns to porn. Salon, 31 March. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2015/03/31/close_to_homeless_steubenville_hacker_deric_lostutter_turns_to_porn_if_it_makes_money_it_makes_money/

12.

CNN (2013) 4 more school employees charged in Steubenville rape case. CNN, 26 November. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/25/justice/ohio-steubenville-rape-case/

13.

Daily Mail Reporter (2012) Two high school football stars charged with rape and kidnapping 16-year-old girl. Daily Mail, 2 September. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2197179/Two-high-school-football-stars-charged-raping-kidnapping-16-year-old-girl.html

14.

Deuze

(2012) Media Life. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

15.

Dissell

(2012) Rape charges against high school players divide football town of Steubenville, Ohio. Cleveland.com, 2 September. Available at: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/09/rape_charges_divide_football_t.html

16.

Edwards

Turchik

Dardis

. (2011) Rape myths: history, individual and institutional-level presence, and implications for change. Feminist Forum 65: 761–773.

17.

Entman

(1993) Framing: towards clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication 43: 51–58.

18.

Fischer

(1994) America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

19.

Franiuk

Seefelt

Vandello

(2008) Prevalence of rape myths in headlines and their effects on attitudes toward rape. Sex Roles 58: 790–801.

20.

Franko

(2013) Video causes web furor over OH athletes’ rape case. Associated Press, 4 January. Available at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/video-causes-web-furor-over-ohio-athletes-rape-case-1.518822

21.

Gamson

Croteau

Hoynes

. (1992) Media images and the social construction of reality. Annual Review of Sociology 18: 373–393.

22.

Gitelman

(2006) Always Already New: New Media, History and the Data of Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

23.

Goffman

(1974) Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.

24.

Goode

Schweber

(2013) Case already tried across social media heads to courtroom. The New York Times, 13 March. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/us/steubenville-rape-case-heads-to-trial.html

25.

Hess

(2014) It’s time to stop shaming the Steubenville rapists. Salon, 11 August (Huffington Post Crime). Available at: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/08/11/ma_lik_richmond_returns_to_football_in_steubenville_let_s_let_him_get_on.html

26.

Keller

(2013) Invasion of the data snatchers. The New York Times, 14 January. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/opinion/keller-invasion-of-the-data-snatchers.html

27.

Khalek

(2013) For US media, rape culture is there, not here. Extra! 26(6): 5.

28.

Macur

(2012) Hackers demanding apology in rape case. The New York Times, 25 December. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/sports/hackers-of-steubenville-football-teams-web-site-demand-apology-in-rape-case.html

29.

Macur

Schweber

(2012) Rape case unfolds on web and splits city. The New York Times, 17 December. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/sports/high-school-football-rape-case-unfolds-online-and-divides-steubenville-ohio.html

30.

Marvin

(1988) When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking about Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

31.

Meyer

(2010) Too drunk to say no. Feminist Media Studies 10(1): 19–34.

32.

Meyers

(1994) News of battering. Journal of Communication 44(2): 47–63.

33.

O’Hara

(2012) Monsters, playboys, virgins and whores: rape myths in the news media’s coverage of sexual violence. Language and Literature 21(3): 247–259.

34.

Oppel

(2013a) Accuser testifies in Ohio case; verdict expected. The New York Times, 17 March. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/us/rape-trial-in-steubenville-ohio.html?_r=0

35.

Oppel

(2013b) Ohio teenagers guilty in rape that social media brought to light. The New York Times, 18 March. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/us/teenagers-found-guilty-in-rape-in-steubenville-ohio.html

36.

Overholser

(1989) Why hide rapes? The New York Times, 11 July. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/11/opinion/why-hide-rapes.html

37.

Pan

Kosicki

(1993) Framing analysis: an approach to news discourse. Political Communication 10: 59–79.

38.

Petric

(2006) Conceptualizing and measuring the social uses of the internet: the case of personal web sites. The Information Society: An International Journal 22(5): 291–301.

39.

Preston

(2013) How blogger helped the Steubenville rape case unfold online. The New York Times, 18 March. Available at: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/how-blogger-helped-steubenville-rape-case-unfold-online/?_r=0

40.

Rape, Assault and Incest National Network (RAINN) (n.d.-a) Reporting rates. Available at: https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/reporting-rates

41.

Rape, Assault and Incest National Network (RAINN) (n.d.-b) Who are the victims? Available at: https://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims

42.

Rape Myths (n.d.) Rape myths—women against violence against women rape crisis. Available at: http://www.wavaw.ca/mythbusting/rape-myths/

43.

Ross

(2013) Steubenville rape case splits town between Big Red and Guy Fawkes. The Daily Beast, 17 January. Available at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/07/steubenville-rape-case-splits-town-between-big-red-and-guy-fawkes.html

44.

Rossi

(director) (2011) Page One News: Inside The New York Times (Motion Picture). New York, NY: Magnolia Pictures and Beverly Hills, CA: Participant Media.

45.

Singer

(2013) Steubenville rape trial verdict to be handed down today. The Huffington Post, 17 March. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/17/steubenville-rape-trial-verdict_n_2895526.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in

46.

Smith

(2014) “Yes means yes” California SB 967 sex assault bill signed by gov. ABC7 Chicago, 29 September. Available at: http://abc7chicago.com/news/yes-means-yes-california-sb-967-sex-assault-bill-signed/328741/

47.

Testa

(2013) Why the “rape girls” are speaking out. Buzzfeed, 3 December. Available at: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jtes/why-the-rape-girls-are-speaking-out#.bhrNrOnzM3

48.

Tewksbury

Scheufele (2009) News framing theory and research. In: Bryant

Oliver

(eds) Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, pp. 17–33.

49.

The Huffington Post (2013) Steubenville High rape suspects may not get fair trial after video leak: Ma’lik Richmond’s lawyer. The Huffington Post, 4 January. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/04/steubenville-high-rape-suspects-fair-trial_n_2410365.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in

50.

The Washington Post (2013) National Digest: cancer treatment’s affect on heart; La. fire continues. The Washington Post, 14 March. Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/national-digest-cancer-treatments-affect-on-heart-la-fire-continues/2013/03/13/06ccae24-8c1c-11e2-9f54-f3fdd70acad2_story.html

51.

Tucker

(1998) The framing of Calvin Klein: a frame analysis of media discourse about the August 1995 Calvin Klein jeans advertising campaign. Critical Studies in Mass Communication 15: 141–157.

52.

Turkle

(2008) Always-on/always-on-you: the tethered self. In Katz

(ed.) Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 121–137.

53.

Van Gorp

(2007) The constructionist approach to framing: bringing culture back in. Journal of Communication 57(1): 60–78.

54.

Waterhouse-Watson

(2011) (Un)reasonable doubt: a “narrative immunity” for footballers against sexual assault allegations. M/C Journal 14(1): 7.

55.

Welsh-Huggins

(2013a) Witness cooperation urged in football rape case. Associated Press, 10 January. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130110/us-football-players-rape-charges/

56.

Welsh-Huggins

(2013b) Steubenville High School rape case: online threats complicate Ohio school rape case. Associated Press, 13 January. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/13/online-threats-complicate-high-school-rape-case_n_2467077.html

57.

Welsh-Huggins

(2013c) Ohio judge weighs whether to keep rape trial open. Associated Press, 23 January. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130123/us-football-players-rape-charges/?utm_hp_ref=arts&ir=arts

58.

Welsh-Huggins

(2013d) 2 Ohio football players face trial in rape case. Associated Press, 9 March. Available at: http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/21564635/2-ohio-football-players-face-trial-in-rape-case

59.

Welsh-Huggins

(2013e) 2 Ohio football players convicted of raping girl. The Washington Post, 18 March, A03.

60.

Welsh-Huggins

Sanner

(2013) Steubenville, Ohio schools in football rape case add guards ‘to improve safety of students’. Associated Press, 9 January. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/steubenville-ohio-schools_n_2439707.html

61.

Wimmer

Dominick

(2006) Mass Media Research: An Introduction. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.