Ethical journalism and sexual violence

As journalists, you are both the ears and mouthpieces of the campus community. Doing what you can to further the prevention of sexual violence is crucial.
The kinds of questions a reporter asks--and to whom--and the words they use to describe what occurred matter greatly in how the public understands sexual violence cases. Including messages of prevention in your article helps readers to see that prevention is possible and achievable.

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Framing the Issue

  • American Perceptions of Sexual Violence: A FrameWorks Research Report  Public perceptions of sexual violence The report and flash presentation offered below examine both the expert discourse on sexual violence and how Americans talk and think about the topic. http://frameworksinstitute.org/sexualviolence.html
  • Costs of Sexual Violence in Minnesota (PDF: 20pages/127KB)  Sexual assault in Minnesota cost almost $8 billion in 2005, or $1,540 per resident. Find out why. http://www.health.state.mn.us/injury/pub/svcosts.pdf
    Tags: Research 
  • Framing 101  From the Berkeley Studies Media Group, frames matter because they can foster certain understandings and hinder others. Effectively communicating a message is a delicate balancing act. http://www.bmsg.org/resources/framing-101
  • Judges Tell: What I Wish I Had Known Before I Presided in an Adult Sexual Assault Case  Developed by the National Judicial Education Program in conjunction with judges experienced in presiding over adult victim sexual assault cases, "Judges Tell" details the dynamics of such cases. http://jec.unm.edu/manuals-resources/manuals/Judges%20Tell.pdf/view
    Tags: Rape Myths  Response 
  • Repeat Rape and Multiple Offending Among Undetected College Rapists (PDF: 80KB/12 pages)  In a survey of 1882 men on college campuses, 120 men self-reported acts which met legal definitions of rape or attempted rape. The repeat rapists averaged 5.8 rapes each. http://www.wcsap.org/sites/www.wcsap.org/files/uploads/webinars/SV%20on%20Campus/Repeat%20Rape.pdf
  • Sexual Assault on Campus: A Frustrating Search for Justice  The Center for Public Integrity spent 12 months lifting the curtain on how colleges and universities respond to reports of sexual assault. What they found raises many concerns. http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/campus_assault/
  • Student Guide to the Clery Act  Frequently asked questions about the important--and misunderstood--federal campus crime reporting law. http://www.splc.org/knowyourrights/legalresearch.asp?id=19
  • Understanding Sexual Violence Fact Sheet  A 2 page fact sheet about sexual violence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (PDF: 203KB, 2 pages) http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/SV_Factsheet-a.pdf
  • learn@PreventConnect  PreventConnect welcomes you to this set of free courses and trainings, designed to grow and support a national community of practice for the prevention of sexual and domestic violence. http://learn.preventconnect.org/
Campus Sexual Violence Prevention Portal

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