Claimsmaking, Child Saving and the Mass Media

• In Event: Children and Crime in the Media

Abstract

Using a social constructionist framework, this paper critically examines the mass-mediated representation of child sexual exploitation online and via mobile communications technology. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P), a non-profit charity located in Winnipeg, Canada, is used as a case study of claimsmaking and the social construction of the social problem of child sexual exploitation online. The present study focuses on the media strategies employed by C3P and their subsidiary CyberTip – Canada’s national internet tipline – between 2002 and 2016. The analysis draws on three sources of data: qualitative interviews with senior staff and board members of C3P; publicly available reports and educational materials published by C3P; and news media accounts of the activities of C3P in local and national news media outlets. The analysis demonstrates that through a concerted and consistent strategy of claimsmaking through the media, C3P has been successful in gaining ownership of the issue and has been instrumental in defining the nature and extent of the problem of online child sexual exploitation in Canada. I conclude by considering the broader implications for criminal justice policy and practice.

Author

• Steven Kohm, University of Winnipeg