Claims-making, child saving, and the news media

Abstract

Drawing on a social constructionist paradigm, this article critically examines mass-mediated framing of the issue of child sexual exploitation online and via mobile communications technology. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P),1 a non-profit charity located in Winnipeg, Canada, is used as a case study of claims-making and the social construction of the social problem of child sexual exploitation online. The present study focuses on media engagement by C3P and its subsidiary CyberTip—Canada’s national internet tip line—between 2000 and 2011, just prior to CyberTip receiving legislative designation as Canada’s official reporting agency. The analysis draws on news media accounts of claims-making activities of C3P in three local and national Canadian newspapers. By focusing on the rhetoric of claims forwarded by the organization, I argue that C3P has been successful in gaining symbolic ownership of the issue and has been instrumental in defining the nature, extent, and appropriate responses to the problem of online child sexual exploitation in Canada. I conclude by considering the broader implications for criminal justice policy and practice.