Human trafficking in the media

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; Szörényi & 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, 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.