Media Framing of Human Trafficking - Research Proposal Example

REPRESENTATION AND ADVOCACY OF MEDIA By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Media Framing of Human Trafficking Essay Plan 1.0 Introduction Competing human trafficking representations in the media have led to an uncertainty of how the audience and public at large perceive human trafficking as a social phenomenon (Wallinger, 2010) As it will be demonstrated in the essay, media has become part of the tainted system with social actors’ naturalised practices, perpetuating unawareness regarding the issue of human trafficking to the general public. 2.0 Discussion 2.1 Understanding Human Trafficking Human trafficking takes many forms such as contract slavery, forced marriage, chattel slavery, debt bondage, and so forth. Human trafficking normally involves procuring and maintaining free labour through force (Wallinger, 2010). 2.2 The Aspect of Framing Framing theory is considered valuable in examining the interaction between consumer and media. Framing involves creating a perspective purposely or inadvertently with the aim of shaping the audience interpretation regarding a certain problem, issue or event (Borer, 2015). There are internal and external factors that influence media framing, organisational constraint and pressure, social values and norms, interest groups’ pressures, journalists’ political or ideological orientations and journalist routine (Kiros, 2015). The choice of frame is often influenced by prejudice and ideology, and media representations on human trafficking depict bias as much as gender-related issues are concerned. Even though media is an important player in construction of the trafficking meanings, they have hardly participated in the study of institutional framing of trafficking (Pajnik, 2010) 2.3 Human Trafficking and The Media The media has continuously reported on the government attempts to halt the trafficking menace through legislation practices. The coverage of human trafficking by media are mainly framed as a transgression issue, showed episodically instead of thematically. The media hardly suggest remedies to the problem, but instead concentrate on official sources’ opinions (Sobel, 2014). An analysis of the media coverage with regard to human trafficking by Sobel (2016), demonstrate that most media coverages depend on official sources and normally cite criminal activities as the basis of human trafficking. After large-scale anti-trafficking initiative was launched, news media in countries like Thailand, United States and India started increasing their coverage with the aim of voicing the victims’ plight. 2.4 Media Framing and Public Polity Some media utilise stories and artwork of human trafficking survivors for advocacy purposes such as promoting awareness by explicitly drawing upon the painful experiences of the survivors (Davis, 2017). The media plays a crucial role in the democratic process by acting as a voice for victims of human trafficking and offering the public different arguments and ideas. The media can create understanding regarding the human trafficking issues by making decisions routinely regarding how to structure their stories logically with the aim of making them intelligible and accessible for their audiences (Gulati, 2010). As media coverage on human trafficking focus on consequences like emotional trauma and violence, they should also offer solutions to the problems (Sobel, 2016). The media should help the public to understand the gravity of the human trafficking issue considering that it poses a major threat to the society (Martinelli, 2012). 3.0 Conclusion Human trafficking is considered as a major problem that happens internally (from rural areas to urban areas) or externally (from developing countries to developed economies). Normally, the media often showcase women trafficking with the view to sexual slavery and prostitution. More importantly, the media shape and organise the audience understanding of reality; thus, they often generate resonance in discourse as well as offering meaning to certain images. Annotated Bibliography Wallinger, C.S., 2010. Media Representation and Human Trafficking: How Anti-Trafficking Discourse Affects Trafficked Persons. In Caroline S. Wallinger. Lincoln, 2010. University of Nebraska. In this article, Wallinger (2010) examines the discourse on human trafficking and the public understanding of the problems as well as political violence manifestations by means of discursive and fragmentations and divisions. The author observed that most media present trafficking as a problem associated with organised crime, prostitution and migration. Therefore, the media often portray just a few aspects of human trafficking and omit major issues related to trafficking such as globalisation, lack of opportunity and poverty. This paper would be crucial for the essay because it highlights the reasons why the media has placed more emphasis on isolated occurrences of human trafficking rather than the socio-political forces attributed to the issue. Borer, M., 2015. Human Trafficking in the Media: Who, What, Where, and Why? Thesis. Orono, Maine: University of Maine. Borer (2015) analyses themes in the media associated with human trafficking coverage. According to the author, the media framing theory indicates that the media has the power to influence the public beliefs and ideas regarding issues by means of the information they present. The author observed that media has failed to talk about the factors that would help the government agencies access trafficking victims easily. The author also observed that the media was failed to conceptualise the social factors that cause people to become victims of human trafficking. This paper would be important for the essay because it demonstrates how the media is underutilising its power to drive inform the public by sharing information regarding human trafficking. Davis, T., 2017. Images of Healing and Learning: Art Therapy Exhibitions: Exploitation or Advocacy? AMA Journal of Ethics, vol. 19, no. 1, pp.98-106. Davis (2017) examines the possible harms related to the media displaying the therapeutic artwork of the human trafficking survivors, and how these harms could be prevented. The author observed that the artwork created by survivors of human trafficking and displayed through media or exhibits of anti-trafficking organisations facilitate the healing processes of the artists. The media creating awareness through the survivors’ artworks should understand that the survivors are inclined to heal when their experiences are displayed for the public to learn This piece is important for the essay because it shows how media outlets could help reduce human trafficking problems by covering the varied and complex stories of the survivor for the public to see. Sobel, M.R., 2014. Chronicling a crisis: media framing of human trafficking in India, Thailand, and the USA. Asian Journal of Communication, vol. 24, no. 4, pp.315–32. The objective of Sobel (2014) article was to describe ways through which media, especially news media cover social issues such as human trafficking. The author utilised content analysis to examine the volume of human trafficking news coverage in the United States, India, as well as Thailand prior to and subsequent to the launch of the anti-trafficking initiative. The author observed that media coverage increased on the human trafficking issue increased after the launching of the anti-trafficking initiative. This paper would be important for the essay because it would help depict the important role played by the news media in information dissemination regarding the discourse of human trafficking as well as the increased coverage. Kiros, H., 2015. Framing of Human Trafficking in State Newspapers The Case of Bekur Newspaper. Global Media Review, vol. 1, no. 1, pp.1-28. Kiros (2015) studied how human trafficking issues were framed by new media, in this case, Bekur (a government newspaper). The study was conducted for 18 months and employed the framing theory as the key conceptual framework. The author found out that human trafficking was a minor feature as well as news in Bekur. The author noted that human trafficking stories coverage offered by the newspaper was just minimal and the majority of the stories in the newspaper were covered dominantly on the inside pages. This article would be important for the essay since it demonstrates why it is imperative for the media to cover human trafficking as important news rather than a minor issue. Sobel, M., 2016. Sex Trafficking in Thai Media: A Content Analysis of Issue Framing. International Journal of Communication, vol. 10, pp.6126–47. In Sobel (2016) paper, she tries to create an understanding with regard to how sex trafficking is framed by news media in Thailand, which is a nation having high trafficking levels. The author analysed 15 years of new converge regarding trafficking in five Thai newspapers, whereby she established that the news media focused more on official sources, female victims, as well as crime frames and hardly discussed the risk factors associated with trafficking and possible solutions. This article is considered important for the essay because it illuminates crucial aspects of the news media landscape and their overreliance on official sources. Pajnik, M., 2010. Media Framing of Trafficking. International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 12, no. 1, pp.45–64. In this article, Pajnik (2010) examines the processes of making meaning around human trafficking, by utilising Slovene press as an empirical example. The author observed that the anti-trafficking paradigm is shaped within ‘frames’ of regularisation, nationalisation, criminalization as well as victimisation. While examining the media frames, the author observed that the Slovene press discussed trafficking in a simple way and did not go beyond the superficial level. This article is important for the essay because it indicates how the media frames existing in the mainstream media such as Slovene press makes it challenging for the public to understand trafficking. Gulati, G.J., 2010. Media Representation of Human Trafficking in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. SSRN Electronic Journal , pp.1-35. Gulati (2010) study analyses whether the media represents diverse ideas while covering human trafficking. According to the author, media coverage and media framing theories of foreign policy indicate human trafficking viewpoints must regularly be voiced through establishment sources. While analysing numerous news media in Canada, Great Britain and the United States, the author observed there the number of viewpoints presented was limited. This piece will be used in the essay because it demonstrates the reasons for the unrepresentative as well as inadequate coverage of human trafficking in the media. Martinelli, D., 2012. U.S. Media’s Failure to Set the Agenda for Covering Sex Trafficking. The Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, vol. 3, no. 2, pp.103-12. In Martinelli (2012) study, they examined the failure of U.S. media to set the agenda for the coverage of sex trafficking. According to the author, the internet is a new factor which has slightly disrupted the agenda setting. The author observed that news importance had been fragmented by the Internet. This piece would be crucial for the essay since it demonstrates the positive effect of media in creating social consensus by means of personal stories as well as high profile articles and publishing them in high trafficked and prominent areas such as news website. Sobel, M.R., 2016. Confronting sex trafficking: Gender depictions in newspaper coverage from the Former Soviet Republics and the Baltic states. European Journal of Communication, vol. 31, no. 2, pp.152– 168. Sobel (2016) draws on the framing theory to analyse how new media in the Baltic states as well as Former Soviet Republics cover the sex trafficking issue. The study was conducted for 11 years and established that the news media converge on sex trafficking was because of inadequate clear definition concerning sex trafficking. The trafficking issue, as observed by the author, was considered newsworthy only if it is associated with the policy changes. This paper would be important for the essay because it will help demonstrate why the lack of clear definition of human trafficking issue results in less coverage of the issue. Read More

2.4 Media Framing and Public Polity Some media utilise stories and artwork of human trafficking survivors for advocacy purposes such as promoting awareness by explicitly drawing upon the painful experiences of the survivors (Davis, 2017). The media plays a crucial role in the democratic process by acting as a voice for victims of human trafficking and offering the public different arguments and ideas. The media can create understanding regarding the human trafficking issues by making decisions routinely regarding how to structure their stories logically with the aim of making them intelligible and accessible for their audiences (Gulati, 2010).

As media coverage on human trafficking focus on consequences like emotional trauma and violence, they should also offer solutions to the problems (Sobel, 2016). The media should help the public to understand the gravity of the human trafficking issue considering that it poses a major threat to the society (Martinelli, 2012). 3.0 Conclusion Human trafficking is considered as a major problem that happens internally (from rural areas to urban areas) or externally (from developing countries to developed economies).

Normally, the media often showcase women trafficking with the view to sexual slavery and prostitution. More importantly, the media shape and organise the audience understanding of reality; thus, they often generate resonance in discourse as well as offering meaning to certain images. Annotated Bibliography Wallinger, C.S., 2010. Media Representation and Human Trafficking: How Anti-Trafficking Discourse Affects Trafficked Persons. In Caroline S. Wallinger. Lincoln, 2010. University of Nebraska.

In this article, Wallinger (2010) examines the discourse on human trafficking and the public understanding of the problems as well as political violence manifestations by means of discursive and fragmentations and divisions. The author observed that most media present trafficking as a problem associated with organised crime, prostitution and migration. Therefore, the media often portray just a few aspects of human trafficking and omit major issues related to trafficking such as globalisation, lack of opportunity and poverty.

This paper would be crucial for the essay because it highlights the reasons why the media has placed more emphasis on isolated occurrences of human trafficking rather than the socio-political forces attributed to the issue. Borer, M., 2015. Human Trafficking in the Media: Who, What, Where, and Why? Thesis. Orono, Maine: University of Maine. Borer (2015) analyses themes in the media associated with human trafficking coverage. According to the author, the media framing theory indicates that the media has the power to influence the public beliefs and ideas regarding issues by means of the information they present.

The author observed that media has failed to talk about the factors that would help the government agencies access trafficking victims easily. The author also observed that the media was failed to conceptualise the social factors that cause people to become victims of human trafficking. This paper would be important for the essay because it demonstrates how the media is underutilising its power to drive inform the public by sharing information regarding human trafficking. Davis, T., 2017. Images of Healing and Learning: Art Therapy Exhibitions: Exploitation or Advocacy?

AMA Journal of Ethics, vol. 19, no. 1, pp.98-106. Davis (2017) examines the possible harms related to the media displaying the therapeutic artwork of the human trafficking survivors, and how these harms could be prevented. The author observed that the artwork created by survivors of human trafficking and displayed through media or exhibits of anti-trafficking organisations facilitate the healing processes of the artists. The media creating awareness through the survivors’ artworks should understand that the survivors are inclined to heal when their experiences are displayed for the public to learn This piece is important for the essay because it shows how media outlets could help reduce human trafficking problems by covering the varied and complex stories of the survivor for the public to see. Sobel, M.R., 2014.

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