New media, old paradigms: News representations of technology in adolescent sexual assault

This study examines news coverage of the Steubenville, Audrie Pott and Daisy Coleman cases, three highly publicized instances of sexual assault featuring teens and the use of digital media to capture and distribute the incidents. Thematic analysis of 146 articles on the assaults was conducted to identify mainstream media portrayals of emerging technologies in relation to each sex crime, and the problem of sexual assault and rape culture, more broadly. Prevailing news themes in the reporting include technology as a model witness, evidence-gatherer and mobilizer, and threat. The focus on technology in these stories, I argue, detracts from considerations of the underlying sexual violence and its causes, and contributes to the media reframing the incidents as cautionary tales about youth and social media. My analysis also suggests the discourses about digital media in the coverage reinforce existing deterministic understandings of new media platforms, and reproduce risk and responsibilization narratives pertaining to youth, sexuality and technology.