Human trafficking in the media: a content analysis of human trafficking ...

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE MEDIA: A CONTENT ANALYSIS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING FRAMES IN DOCUMENTARIES, MOVIES, AND TELEVISION

EPISODES

Thesis presented by

Rachel Austin

to The School of Criminology and Criminal Justice

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science In the field of

Criminal Justice

Northeastern University Boston, MA May, 2016

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE MEDIA: A CONTENT ANALYSIS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING FRAMES IN DOCUMENTARIES, MOVIES, AND TELEVISION

EPISODES

By

Rachel Austin

ABSTRACT OF THESIS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Criminal Justice in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities of Northeastern University May, 2016

3 ABSTRACT Human trafficking is not a new issue in the United States. However it was not until the year 2000 that the United States made human trafficking punishable by law with the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA). After the passing of the TVPA, media interest in human trafficking as a crime increased. Past research on human trafficking frames in print media revealed that portrayals of human trafficking were for the most part oversimplified and inaccurate in terms of human trafficking being portrayed as innocent White female victims needing to be rescued from evil human traffickers (Barnett, 2015; Charynsh, Lloyd, & Simmons, 2014; Farrell & Fahy, 2009; Gulati, 2010; Gulati, 2011; Johnston, Friedman, & Shafer, 2014; Johnston, Friedman, & Sobel, 2014; Kinney, 2015; Sz?r?nyi & Eate, 2014; Sobel, 2014). Even though research on human trafficking in the media provides an understanding about how human trafficking is framed in print media, human trafficking frames in other forms of media such as movies, documentaries, and television episodes have rarely been examined. The existing content analyses that do explore themes in films are qualitative assessments on only one or two select films. This study uses Entman (1993) and Snow and Benford's (1988) theoretical framework on the purposes and types of frames and Christie's (1989) theoretical framework on the ideal victim construction to analyze a larger sample of human trafficking videos across movies, documentaries, television episodes, and region. The results of the content analysis revealed that human trafficking frames in movies, television episodes, and media that took place in the United States also oversimplified human trafficking with the rescue narrative. This analysis also revealed that even though the rescue narrative was also present in documentaries, documentaries were still more

likely to present the complexities of human trafficking such as human rights concerns, 4 diverse victims, and coercive forms of victimization. Suggestions for future research on human trafficking in visual media and the implications for these findings are discussed.

Acknowledgements

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First and foremost, I would like to thank my thesis committee Professor Amy

Farrell and Professor Kevin Drakulich for their patience, kindness, and encouragement

through every step of completing this body of work. I would especially like to thank

Professor Amy Farrell, for not only being my advisor, but for also being my inspiration

and mentor through my work with human trafficking research as well as this thesis.

I would also like to thank my support systems that encouraged me through this

entire year to keep pushing even when the work became emotionally and mentally

draining. This includes Professor Farrell and Katie Bright of the Institute on Race and

Justice, Laurie Mastone of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and my

family and friends. I would especially like to thank my parents William and Vickie

Austin for believing in me and listening to me talk about the videos that I watched for

this thesis no matter how traumatic and horrifying the stories became.

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