MEDIA’S PORTRAYAL OF THE

#METOO MOVEMENT
By: Logan Buzick

OCTOBER 16, 2018

Introduction

Today in America, sexual assault is a serious, and growing problem. Many young adults, males

or females, are put in situations where they are taken advantage of, leaving a scar for the rest of

their life. There are a lot of aspects that go into the #METOO movement, and media is at the top

of that list. The Media portrays rape as something that is disgusting beyond belief, which in all

circumstances is undoubtedly correct. What people ignore is the media’s portrayal of someone

that has been accused of sexual assault and is innocent. By the time the case is over and solved,

innocent or not the accused family, life, and image is torn.

Sexual assault and rape have been a problem in the United States since the beginning. The event

has occurred in every era, spanning from immigrants taking advantage of the Indians who had

settled on the now known U.S. soil long before we did, to the white man taking advantage of the

black women during the slavery period, all the way up to the present day. The usual case is a

man taking advantage of a woman, showing his dominance through the sexual assault leaving the

female scared. Although men can also be taken advantage of the same way, we just do not see it

as often as the opposite.

One of the main problems that some victims have is that they are scared to come forward and

accuse someone of the crime they committed. It is hard to come forward and accuse someone of

a crime like this, because people believe it makes you look weak, and that you can’t protect

yourself. It is very unfortunate that victims must go down this rode without sharing it to anyone

because of the way they will be portrayed by their peers, or even keeping it to themselves

because the attacker threatened them.

One of the problems with keeping it to themselves, is when they have the courage to come

forward and tell someone about their crime, there can possibly be no proof, and it is just a case of

“hear say”. As we just say with the Brett Kavanaugh case, Dr. Ford came forward and accused

the now supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her 20+ years ago. Ford

made a compelling story, and it was completely credible in the opinionated panel that it was

shared to, they still voted Brett Kavanaugh in. there was no real evidence, and it was so long

after the crime was committed that none really remembered what happened that night other than

ford. It made me realize how important it is to step forward right away about these kinds of

heinous crimes, as I do not want someone who is a sexual assaulter in our government let alone a

supreme court justice of it was true.

The media gets a hold of a topic and runs with it. Whether the outcome was the way they

portrayed it or not, they portray what they want. You do not see it in local stations like WDAY

of Fargo, but the big news stations with known political stances like CNN and FOXNews.

Someone comes forward with a story like Ford did in the Kavanaugh case and the stations, CNN

in this case, aired it and made Kavanagh out to be this horrible person and it did ruin his image,

even though he was not found guilty.

The media is a “no loss” producer as I like to say, meaning whether they are right, or they are

wrong, they are still going to run the story and portray the accused like he/she committed the

crime. In most cases the courts rule these kinds of cases as inconclusive, meaning they did not

find the accused innocent, or guilty, there is just not enough evidence to prove that he/she did it.

This can be very problematic as it can tear apart families and ruin people’s lives. Even if it is at a

local level, going out to throw your garbage away and your neighbors standards of you can
decreases and you can be left feeling alone and that no one believes you. Even a future job can

stumble upon the case and not hire you because you got accused, even if you are found innocent.

Since the #METOO campaign has started, and since the Kavanaugh case has been aired, I have

been more interested in how sexual assault affects the victim, as well as someone who is

accused, whether it be true or false. I also have been very interested in these very popular, but

heavily partisan news stations, and how they go about telling the public about the case. The

Media could help release information and get information from a victim that is looking to come

forward about an event that occurred, but it also can be the halt to someone’s career and even

their life.

Methods

The Methods I took for the research of this paper was completely through online sources and

media cites. I found that this was the easiest way to find information about how the media cites

portray a victim and an accused in sexual assault cases. I compared both sides of the argument,

as well as both sides of the partisan news stations. I also looked at the law revolving around

sexual assault as well as previous cases, so it was easier for the reader and myself to get a better

grasp of what was needed to prove someone was sexually assaulted. I also found it was vital to

use unpartisan media cites that talked about the sexual assault, as well as the #METOO

movement to see how they differ from the media cites that are very partisan. I picked the

Kavanaugh case as the best example because it is the most recent popular case of sexual assault,

as well as the #METOO campaign expanded greatly as the case progressed.

The Law of Sexual Assault

I began my research by looking at the actual, written law for sexual assault, and I also looked at

case outcomes to get a better grasp on sexual assault. It took me a while to find the best suited

website to fit my needs, as I already know most of what sexual assault covers. I examined a

couple websites, concluding that the USLegal website had the best representation of the law.

From there, I went to look for cases, specifically outcomes that were inconclusive, or falsely

accused to attempt to find a trend between the cases. It was tough to find websites that

specifically defined the reasons why it was ruled inclusive, or falsely accused.

The first website I found about false accusation of sexual assault was from the Ctpost, revolving

around football players who were wrongfully accused of sexual assault. I found that using a case

that was not on such a mainstream media outlet was easier to find out details about the case and

brought in an aspect of local rather than national level media.

The Second source was from The Tab, telling a story about how a man was falsely accused, and

he served a sentence for it. This article gave me a better sense of the mans perspective, and how

it got as far as it did with his punishment.

Lastly, I looked at statistics revolving around the amount of sexual assault cases that are found

inconclusive or falsely accused to get a better grasp on the occurrence of this event. I looked at

the Return of Kings website, as it gave me a good grasp on how people can avoid being falsely

accused of sexual assault, as well as how common it truly is.

Media Sources

For the second portion, I focused on finding partisan and unpartisan media sources that portrayed

the Brett Kavanagh hearings differently. I found that looking at the chart on Ad Fontes Media

that further describes what media source is partisan and unpartisan to discover what media

sources I will use to get a grasp on what each side thinks.

I started with a very natural media source, CBS news, as they are one of the most natural and

factual reporting mainstream media sources in the United States. I found that indeed the article

was very unpartisan, as well as factual. “Christine Blasey Ford, Brett Kavanaugh hearing: The

top takeaways,” is the article I used.

I proceeded to look at more partisan media outlets, starting with CNN. CNN, who is historically

known as a media outlet with a liberal view, fit my standards for the partisan section of media

outlets. “Kavanaugh's accuser says he was drunk at the time. What studies say about alcohol and

memory loss,” Is the article from CNN that I used.

The second partisan media outlet I looked at was from the right side of the spectrum, Fox News.

Fox News is historically a media outlet that has conservative beliefs, this fit my role as a partisan

website from an opposite spectrum as CNN. “Kavanaugh chaos: The hearing that was Congress

at its worst,” was the article I used from Fox News.

Analysis

After looking at each article that I chose, I gathered all information pertaining to when the victim

came forward, how long it was between coming forward and the even occurring, the outcome of

the hearing, and how each website chose to portray the case. I particularly focused on wording

that described the victim, accused, and about sexual assault. I also chose to compare the titles of

the articles as well, as they were very important for people browsing who just saw the title

instead of clicking and reading the whole article.

As far as the law of sexual assault articles, I only looked at the specific laws pertaining to sexual

assault, specifically ones that were involved in the cases I looked at.

Research

The first thing I focused on was the law of sexual assault. I found a website on USLegal that did

a very good job of describing the exact laws of sexual assault. I also looked at the chart on Ad

Fontes Media to get a better understanding of the partisan of news outlets. (See Figure 1)

My findings were remarkably different compared to each media outlet and website that I chose

to pursue. Each outlet had their own way of describing the people involved, the case that was

takin place, and all-around wording of the article. As suspected, CNN, the liberal leaning

partisan news outlet was more coddling of the victim, and worded it nearly attacking the

accused, compared to defending the accused like the conservative side on Fox News. . Fox News

focused on congress, and the democratic party instead of the Kavanaugh Hearing compared to

the CNN and CBS outlets. This makes sense because as a conservative, you want to move on

from the incident and move the focus onto something else. As far as CBS goes, they were very
factual with their findings, not attacking anyone or taking a side. Their wording was very

different and moderate compared to the partisan sites.

Law and Results

The law of sexual assault is very clear in its wording, with little to no wiggle room. You will see

in chart 1: Laws of Sexual Assault information provided from USLegal Describes in their article,

“Sexual Assault Law and Legal Definition.”

Class 4 Felony The actor causes submission of the victim by

means of sufficient consequence reasonably
calculated to cause submission against the
victim's will.
Class 4 Felony The actor knows that the victim is incapable
of appraising the nature of the victim's
conduct.
Class 4 Felony The actor knows that the victim submits
erroneously, believing the actor to be the
victim's spouse.
Class 4 Felony At the time of the commission of the act, the
victim is less than fifteen years of age and the
actor is at least four years older than the
victim and is not the spouse of the victim.
Class 1 Misdemeanor At the time of the commission of the act, the
victim is at least fifteen years of age but less
than seventeen years of age and the actor is at
least ten years older than the victim and is not
the spouse of the victim.
Class 4 Felony The victim is in custody of law or detained in
a hospital or other institution and the actor has
supervisory or disciplinary authority over the
victim and uses this position of authority to
coerce the victim to submit, unless the act is
incident to a lawful search.
Class 4 Felony The actor, while purporting to offer a medical
service, engages in treatment or examination
of a victim for other than a bona fide medical
purpose or in a manner substantially

Class 3 Felony
Chart 1: Laws of Sexual Assault (USLegal)
inconsistent with reasonable medical
practices.
The victim is physically helpless and the actor
knows the victim is physically helpless and
the victim has not consented.

UsLegal does a great job of depicting exactly what falls into the category of sexual assault. For

my research, I used a generalization of all the following circumstances to get a better grasp on

what was included in the sexual assault laws and guidelines.

Cases of False Accusation

I examined both two different cases of false accusation of sexual; assault. The first was an article

from the CTpost about a female that falsely accused football players of rape to “Gain sympathy

of a prospective boyfriend.” (Tepfer 1) Nikki Yovino is an 18-year-old female that accused two

football players of Sacred Heart University of raping her. Both football players not only were not

allowed on the team, but also dropped out of school. Three months later, Yovino admitted that

she had lied about the football players raping her and could server a sentence of up to 5 years in

prison. Tepfer gathered a quote from the officers; “She admitted that she made up the allegation

of sexual assault against (the football players) because it was the first thing that came to mind

and she didn’t want to lose (another male student) as a friend and potential boyfriend.”(Tepfer 1)

One of the football players lost a year of eligibility and an NCAA scholarship, while the other

football player did not return to the school. (Tepfer 1)

The Second article I gathered about false accusations of sexual assault was from TheTab.com. It

is an article from the male that was falsely accused, he went by Nick which was not his actual

name. Nick begins the article by stating, “You see so much in the media about one side of things,
but nobody ever talks about the other side of things, about people who are falsely accused and go

all the way through and get found innocent at the end of it.” (Lanigan 1) Nick began to tell his

story, about how he was falsely accused of sexual assault. He states that before his birthday, they

had sexual intercourse. The next day, she came and accused him of rape because of how

“Horrible it was”. Nick continues to state, “I was arrested in 2009 — the ordeal went on for two

and a half years.” (Lanigen 1)

Nick worked off campus for a year, as he did not want to go back, and all his friends had

stopped speaking to him. Nick stated later that, “(t)hey just heard the word “rape” and most

people’s opinion is there’s no smoke without fire.” (Lanigen 1) Nick was later found innocent,

but no one treated him the same including the university; “(w)hen I was found innocent I rang

the university and a woman just told me “fine”. I never heard anything more, no “sorry for the

way we’ve treated you, nice to hear that you’ve been exonerated”, just “fine”.” (Langigen 1)

Nick was never the same man, including struggling in life finding a job, having relationships,

and going to school. (Lanigen 1)

Media Outlets

I began the Media outlet search by figuring out which outlet was partisan, and which weren’t. Ad

Fontes Media provided a very in-depth figure of what outlet fell where on the political spectrum.

(See Figure 1)

I picked three outlets based on the specturm. CNN as the liberal outlet and Fox News as the

conservative outlet because of their well known partisan views on the complete opposite side of

the spectrum. Laslty, I chose CBS news as the netrual, unpartisan outlet.
Figure 1

The first article I looked at was the unpartisan CBS article entitled, “Christine Blasey Ford, Brett

Kavanaugh hearing: The top takeaways,” which had very moderate wording and was very

factual. As stated by CBS, "Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter, the laughter, the

uproarious laughter between the two, and their having fun at my expense," she said of

Kavanaugh and Judge.” (CBS 1) They are taking facts from the hearing, and quotes from the

hearings to further strengthen their article instead of taking a side. CBS also included a quote

from Dick Durbin, "I've got a suggestion for you, right now, turn to your left in the front row to

Don McGahn, counsel to President Donald Trump," Durbin said. "Ask him to suspend this

hearing and nomination process until the FBI completes its investigation, and the charges made
by Dr. Ford and others and goes to bring witnesses forward and provides that information to this

hearing."(CBS 1)

The second article I looked at was the liberal partisan outlet CNN entitled, “Kavanagh’s accused

says he was drunk at the time. What studies say about alcohol and memory loss.” (Howard 1)

The title alone goes to show that they are not focusing on the victim, but instead attacking the

accused and the “reason” this happened. They are acting like it already happened and a decision

was already made, trying to warn people to not let it happen again instead of reporting what was

currently happening. They continue to focus on ways how to stop sexual assault, and briefly

including information about the case. For example, Howard writes, “Kavanaugh has repeatedly

denied allegations that he assaulted Ford during his high school years.” (Howard 1) They rarely

say the victim’s name and focus strictly on Kavanaugh and his “drinking problem.” (Howard)

The last media outlet that I looked at was the conservative partisan outlet of FoxNews, which

articles title was, “Kavanaugh chaos: The hearing that was Congress at its worst.” Like the

opposite partisan outlet, the title is very detailed. Unlike CNN, FoxNews attempts to divert the

problem to Congress instead of focusing on Kavanaugh and the hearing. Howard Kurtz writes,

“It would be tempting to call the Brett Kavanaugh hearing a circus, but that would be unfair to

clowns and jugglers.” (Kurtz 1) It is very clear that not only is the focus on congress, but that

Kurtz has a very strong stand in this hearing. Kurtz rarely mentions Kavanaugh, but instead

focuses on congress and the president. Kurtz also goes on to say, “(t)he thing totally spun out of

control from the first moments yesterday, a combination of Democrats going into all-out

resistance mode and screaming protestors who, for some reason, Capitol police took roughly

forever to remove.” (Kurtz 1) Kurtz’ article has very strong language and is clear that he wants to

persuade viewers to focus on congress rather than the hearing. (Kurtz)

Discussion

Through my research and reading, it is very clear how much these media outlets not only differ

but affect the lives of the individuals they are talking about. Whether it be CNN, CBS, or

Foxnews, they all tell us what they think is important about the case. The local media outlets also

portray the stories of individuals who were falsely accused of sexual assault and how it affects

their lives.

First, the wording of both partisan media outlets CNN and Foxnews were very unprofessional in

my opinion. They were both attacking opposite sides instead of telling the story of what is

happening in the hearing. Instead of telling the people about a female that allegedly got sexually

assaulted, they focused on bashing each other and the opposite party. The news outlet that was

liberal, CNN, focused on attacking Brett Kavanaugh, and really did not say anything about the

victim, Dr. Ford. It was almost as if their focus was on stopping sexual assault, and like

Kavanaugh had already lost the hearing. If I read that knowing nothing about the case, I would

think it was set in stone that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Dr. Ford. On the opposite end

of the spectrum, FoxNews did the exact opposite. Instead of attacking either the victim or the

accused, they attacked the opposite party and tried to shift focus from the hearing to Congress.

They proceeded to bash Congress, and rarely talk about the hearing. They did talked about Dr.

Ford at all, and Kavanaugh very seldomly.

The two false accusations were very interesting. Both the articles were about young, college age

students, who still to this day suffer from the accusations that someone made about them that

were false. One was about two football players that lost their college and football, and the other

was bout a student who lost literally everything for three years until he was proven innocent.
Then, after he was found innocent the university and everyone he knew still did not see equally

of him.

What I want to pull from a collection of these media outlets is a few things. First is the

importance of falsely accusing people of sexual assault. Secondly, are how media portraying

cases like these. Lastly, I would like to focus on how much information media outlets give out.

First, I would like to talk about how important false accusation of sexual assault is on

individuals. As we have seen in three individuals that are all college students, and one that is

now a supreme court justice, anyone can be accused. Most people understand that anyone can

accuse you of sexual assault, but what people do not understand is the toll it takes, even if you

are completely innocent. In all three of the circumstances, the individual’s lives were torn upside

down. The college students had to drop out of college and stop their future because of their

allegations, and Kavanaugh was nearly denied his job that he has worked his entire life for.

Secondly, the media portrays things how they want, not how it is. The media is how we get every

bit of information that we know about current events, good or bad. It gets more complicated

when different media outlets are reporting different things and confusing the public with what

they report. It is unnecessary for media outlets to do this and makes everything more hectic than

it needs to be.

Last, I would like to talk about the information that media outlets have. They have every but of

information we know, and it needs to stay that way. The News outlets do not need to go away,

but instead need to report facts instead of opinionated reported that confuse the public and

tarnish the image of innocent people or parties.

The #METOO campaign is a great campaign that individuals not only have the right to

participate in, but they deserve to participate in it. It is a great campaign that brings awareness to

sexual assault, and gives people that have been victims of sexual assault a voice. The thing that

grinds my gears are theses media outlets portraying it as something that is guaranteed. The media

is almost portraying people to come forward because they do not like someone, or the way they

are doing something. I am all for the #METOO campaign, but they way the media portrays it is

not a road I wish to go down or support.

 Works Cited

“Christine Blasey Ford, Brett Kavanaugh Hearing: The Top Takeaways.” CBS News, CBS

Interactive, 27 Sept. 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/christine-blasey-ford-brett-

kavanaugh-hearing-sexual-assault-allegations-top-takeaways/.

Howard, Jacqueline. “What Studies Say about Alcohol and Memory Loss.” CNN, Cable News

Network, 19 Sept. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/09/19/health/kavanaugh-hearing-alcohol-

memory-explainer/index.html.

Kurtz, Howard. “Kavanaugh Chaos: The Hearing That Was Congress at Its Worst.” Fox News,

FOX News Network, www.foxnews.com/politics/kavanaugh-chaos-the-hearing-that-was-

congress-at-its-worst.

Lanigan, Roisin. “A Girl Falsely Accused Me of Rape and It Almost Ruined My Life.” The Tab,

The Tab, 25 Nov. 2015, thetab.com/2015/11/20/a-girl-falsely-accused-me-of-rape-and-it-

ruined-my-life-62568.

“Media Bias Chart: Version 4.0.” Ad Fontes Media, www.adfontesmedia.com/.

Tepfer, Daniel. “Police: Football Players Falsely Accused of Rape.” Connecticut Post,

Connecticut Post, 24 Feb. 2017, www.ctpost.com/local/article/Police-Football-players-

falsely-accused-of-rape-10950934.php.

US Legal, Inc. “Sexual Assault Law and Legal Definition.” Sexual Assault Law and Legal

Definition | USLegal, Inc., definitions.uslegal.com/s/sexual-assault/.