[Commlist] CFP 2019 themed issue "Journalism and Sexual Violence"

*Call for paper for a special edition of Journalism Practice *

*“Journalism and Sexual Violence”*

*Due June 18, 2019*

**

*Guest editors:*Andrea Baker (Monash University), Usha M. Rodrigues, 
(Deakin University)

*Theme rationale and scope:*Beginning in 2006, the #MeToo hashtag was 
created by African American civil rights advocate Tarana Burke to deal 
with sexual violence (sexism, misogyny, sexual harassment, assault and 
rape) amongst the black community in the US. In October 2017 allegation 
by Hollywood actor, Alyssa Milano, against prolific film director Harvey 
Weinstein, co-owner of US Entertainment Company (Miramax Films), led to 
the revitalisation of #MeToo. #MeToo sparked a movement across the US, 
UK, Canada, Israel, India and Australia, with more than 85 million 
people sharing the hashtag (Kunst, Bailey, Prendergas & Gundersen, 
2018). Since then other hashtags, such as #MeNoMore; #TrustWomen; 
#BelieveWomen; #BeenRapedNeverReported; #YesAllWomen; #HimToo, 
#BlackLivesMatter, #TimesUpand #NowAustralia have emerged, 
each reflecting an intersectionality between sexual violence, identity 
politics, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, language, poverty and 
human rights in our daily lives (Rodino-Colocino, 2018; Menzies, 
Ringrose & Keller, 2018).

Research in the post #MeToo era has been tied to film studies, feminist 
media studies, (Rodino-Colocino, 2018; Marghitu, 2018), criminology 
(Mack & McCann, 2018), psychology (Jokic, 2018) or studies examining 
digital hashtags (Menzies et al., 2018). Post #MeToo, minimal academic 
research has explored how the journalism industry has reported on the 
sexual violence and the impact of such reportage on journalism practice 
and society as a whole (Mack & McCann, 2018). Historically, reports of 
sexual violence made the news when it was related to a known personality 
(for example, Weinstein) or was so extreme in nature that it was 
categorised as having ‘unusual’ news value (Gilchrist 2010; Rodrigues 
2013; Rodino-Colocino, 2018). As Ursula Macfarlane's hard-hitting 
documentary /Untouchable/, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 
January 2019 notes, Weinstein often said to his victims and the press 
investigating the allegations: “Don’t you know who I am!?” (Cited in 
Debruge, 2019). However, as film critic, Peter Debruge (2019, p.1) from 
/Variety/ magazine adds, “separate from the issue of Weinstein’s 
influence was the fact that news outlets have a legal and journalistic 
responsibility to get victims to go on the record before running such an 
incendiary story”. Reportage by US journalists, Ronan Farrow from /The/ 
/New Yorker, /and Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey from /The New York Times 
/about abusers, have been painful, but important pieces of journalism 
(Cobb & Horeck, 2018). As the #MeToo hashtag went viral, the Weinstein 
scandal became a trial by media with the public “blaming and shaming” of 
more than 200 powerful men “from a range of sectors, including the film, 
music, literary, media, sports, fashion and the food industries...for 
their predatory, abusive behaviour” (Cobb & Horeck, 2018, p.1). The post 
Weinstein #MeToo erahasalso resulted in increased level of reporting of 
sexual violence cases by the mainstreamand social media. However, 
scholars have raised concerns that some of the media coverage for being 
misogynistic, sensational and insensitive. Questions remain whether 
journalism can help mitigate threats of sexual and physical violence 
trolled against women who speak up about #MeToo (Cole, 2018).

The guest editors of /Journalism Practice/ invite rigorous empirical 
scholarly work related to the theme of journalism practice, sexual 
violence, pre or post the #MeToo era. Papers need to delineate their use 
of the concept of sexual violence and examine how it is reported on, or 
distributed by legacy or social media. Research should be based around 
either quantitative, qualitative, computational and/or mixed research 
methods. Papers are also encouraged to assess the implications or impact 
of such reportage, and where appropriate offer recommendations to 
improve journalism practice vis-à-vis reporting of sexual violence. 
*Possible areas of interest include, but are not limited to:*

·Journalism, sexual violence, race and ethnicity;

·Journalism, sexual violence and the gendered culture;

·Journalism, sexual violence and human rights;

·Journalism, sexual violence and ethics/legal considerations and guidelines;

·Journalism news values, news language, news traditions and sexual violence;

·Solution Journalism and sexual violence reporting; and

·Reporting sexual violence and journalism training/education.

**

*INFORMATION ABOUT SUBMISSION: *

We invite research papers between 7000 to 8000s words, (including 
references, notes, tables, figures) relating to this themed issue, and 
an abbreviated author(s) bio. *Deadline for full papers to Journalism 
Practice’s Scholar One by 18 June, 2019*.

Following the peer review process, accepted papers will be notified by 
mid-August, 2019 for final revisions. Revised articles need to be ready 
by December 1, 2019, to be published in the Journalism Practice, 2020, 
Vol 14, No 1.

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