Media Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse in the wake of a Royal Commission.
Content Warning: This report discusses child sexual abuse. This means that some of the information may be confronting, triggering or cause distress – particularly if you have been impacted by violence, abuse and trauma. If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed, distressed or in crisis, there is help available at https://www.childsafety.gov.au/support-services
INTRODUCTION TO THE BREAKING SILENCES: MEDIA AND THE CHILD ABUSE ROYAL COMMISSION PROJECT
The Breaking Silences team
This report provides a snapshot of the wide-ranging work that has been undertaken for the Breaking Silences: Media and the Child Abuse Royal Commission project. Funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Projects grant (DP190101282), over the past four years the Breaking Silences team has been researching the role of journalism and social media advocacy in triggering, reporting on, and keeping alive the recommendations of the ground- breaking Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2013-17) (RCIRCSA).
2022 marks a decade since Julia Gillard called Australia’s largest-ever Royal Commission, and five years since the Commission’s final report was handed down. While much has been written about the RCIRCSA and its outcomes, this is the first project to closely examine its mediation.
The RCIRCSA took place at a time of profound change in the global media landscape and afforded new opportunities to bear witness to previous silenced voices. Digital technology enabled an unprecedented flow of information into, and out of, the Commission and around the world, while commitment from major news outlets ensured the RCIRCSA dominated the news agenda for its five years.
As a team we were inspired to interrogate the media activity of survivor advocacy organisations that triggered and shaped the Commission’s outcomes, the organisational structures that enabled this ‘mediatised’ Royal Commission, as well as the reporting from national and local newsrooms.
The Breaking Silences: Media and the Child Abuse Royal Commission project was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP190101282). For more information, visit http://breakingsilences.net.
This report © University of Canberra, 2022
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