From Weinstein to Kavanaugh: Shifting coverage of sexual violence and the #MeToo movement across US news media

This study explores the framing strategies and language features of U.S. news coverage surrounding sexual violence and gender issues across the ideological media spectrum at two pivotal phases of the #MeToo movement: (1) during its initial rise as a hashtag-driven social movement in 2017 and (2) during the Kavanaugh nomination and confirmation in 2018. Using structural topic modeling, community detection, and feature extraction, we reveal a heightened employment of political framing during the Kavanaugh accusations. Topical prevalence and language use in news treatment also showed clear partisan differences, consistent with theories of moral foundation and issue ownership. Implications for research on news coverage of gender rights and framing of social movements are discussed.

Automated summary

This study explores the framing strategies and language features of news coverage on sexual violence and gender issues in the U.S., focusing on two pivotal phases of the #MeToo movement. The study reveals an increased use of political framing during the Kavanaugh accusations. The findings also show clear partisan differences in topical prevalence and language use, consistent with theories of moral foundation and issue ownership.