“I Know It is a Stereotype, but People Love to See It”: Chinese Journalists’ Perceptions of Sexual Violence Victims

ABSTRACT

Drawing on the concept of framing, this paper investigates the perspectives of Chinese journalists on sexual violence against women. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 Chinese journalists from official, commercial, and freelance media outlets. The study identified two primary frames relating to female victims of sexual violence: the “idealness” of victims and the newsworthiness of victims. The paper examines how these frames relate to China’s socio-economic, cultural, and organisational context. It is argued that the perceptions and news values of Chinese journalists regarding sexual violence are influenced by both macro-level factors—such as socio-economic, organisational, and cultural factors, and micro-level factors, such as the journalists’ professional reputation and personal values. This interplay of factors results in the symbolic erasure of certain victims of sexual violence. The findings of this study underscore the importance of examining the cognitive frames journalists use when reporting on sexual violence, identifying key factors that influence their reporting. In doing so, the study contributes to existing literature on the framing of women’s issues.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese journalism
• ideal victim
• cognitive frames
• news values
• sexual violence against women
• sociology of news

In early 2018, the #MeToo movement, sparked by allegations of sexual harassment against the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, reached China. Buoyed by this global movement, many Chinese students began openly sharing instances of serious sexual misconduct within China’s higher education institutions. In 2018 alone, over 20 public allegations against Chinese university professors accused of sexually abusing students emerged on social media (Zeng 2020). According to the students’ accounts, a number of male professors had exploited their authority to coerce students into sexual relationships, often using academic resources as leverage or intimidating students by undermining their academic achievements. Some of these #MeToo stories gained traction in both Chinese official and commercial media outlets, including People’s Daily, China Daily, Global Times, The Beijing News, and Ifeng News.

Sexual violence is considered a sensitive subject in China, and the news media serves as the main trusted source of information for Chinese citizens seeking information on the topic (Liao and Luqiu 2022). Thus, the collective perception of sexual violence in China is heavily influenced by news coverage and the prevailing discourses represented therein (see Liao and Luqiu 2022; Zeng 2019). However, it is important to acknowledge that news is a “social product”, which is constructed through the interplay of media professionals, organisations, and society as a whole (Mawindi Mabweazara 2011, 104). Embedded in news reporting are the institutions, power dynamics, cultural elements, and dominant interests that the media seeks to vindicate (Happer 2017). Recognising the socially constructed nature of journalism and the pivotal role of journalists in shaping and portraying social reality, this paper investigates Chinese journalists’ perceptions of sexual violence against women.

The paper begins with an overview and taxonomy of defining traits of Chinese journalists operating in various media contexts. This provides the foundation for the subsequent discussion of the homogeneity and diversity in journalists’ thought processes. Next, the paper discusses the various interpretations of news values across different countries and regions, and how these influence media portrayals of sexual violence and its victims. The third section outlines the study’s research methods, namely semi-structured interviews, and discusses the participant recruitment and data analysis strategies. The paper then discusses the key insights from these interviews, which include the journalists’ cognitive framing of female victims, and the socio-economic, cultural, and organisational factors that influence them. The paper concludes by summarising the findings and highlighting its contribution to the sociology of news.

Background of Chinese News Media

Since the late 1970s, China has pursued a national media marketisation strategy, which aims to reduce the media’s reliance on state subsidisation by promoting profitability and commercial financing methods (Meng and Rantanen 2015). As a result, news outlets initially controlled by the party-state have increasingly sought to generate revenue through advertising and investments (Stockmann 2013). It was anticipated that media marketisation would encourage media professionals to push the boundaries of news reporting and counter state control (Stockmann 2013). However, within the Chinese context, media marketisation does not equate to privatisation, nor does it signify the decline of state ownership (Xin 2012). China’s distinctive model of political economy, party-state capitalism, employs economic incentives and subsidies to ensure loyalty from state-owned enterprises, while using market mechanisms to reinforce the political dominance of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (Pearson, Rithmire, and Tsai 2023). This has given rise to a complex and dynamic relationship between the state and the market in China, which evolves in tandem with socio-economic and technological factors (Wang and Sparks 2019a).

For the purpose of this study, the Chinese news media is divided into three segments: party outlets, which largely function as organs of state propaganda; commercial (or non-party) news outlets, which are more market-oriented; and freelance media outlets, which operate without formal authorisation from the Chinese government. As will emerge below, these three segments of Chinese journalism exhibit varying levels of market orientation and adherence to government directives.

Commercial news outlets receive little or no state funding (Stockmann 2013), forcing them to cater to consumer demands to secure revenue through increased readership (Vu 2014; Wang and Sparks 2019b). Often, this leads to a focus on entertainment and lighter content, with frequent coverage of “trivial life” or “sensational” matters (Tong 2019, 90). Compared to pieces that seek to uncover important truths and shine a light on society’s underbelly, such lighter content is more apt to gain traction and attract higher traffic (Tong 2019).

In contrast, state news organs such as Xinhua News Agency have not fully embraced marketisation, since their foremost obligation is to serve the interests of the party-state, which takes precedence over catering to audience preferences (Xin 2012). This is consistent with Huan’s (2016) finding that professional assessments of an event’s newsworthiness in Chinese party outlets often yield to government’s propaganda. A case in point is the substantial coverage dedicated to political figures and events, regardless of their lack of news value or audience appeal (Huan 2016). These outlets are mandated to promote pro-government discourse on politically sensitive subjects and, when necessary, present a unified stance on noteworthy social events (Hachten 2010; Luqiu 2018). This adherence to pro-government narratives provides benefits such as access to government subsidies and elevated social status (Xin 2012), which provides a more diverse revenue stream compared to commercial news entities that rely solely on advertising and investment (Wang and Sparks 2019a).

The third segment of China’s media landscape comprises freelance media entities, including citizen and independent journalists. These journalists often face suppression and are denied legitimacy for political reasons (Svensson 2017; Xin 2010). According to Xin (2010, 333), citizen journalists in China serve as an “alternative channel” for the dissemination of politically sensitive information, cooperating with mainstream media outlets to allow such information to circulate online, free from the control of the Chinese government. Although they too must compete for market share and comply with government directives, citizen journalists embody an aspirational form of press freedom, showing courage in reporting on government-censored social events (Xin 2010). Likewise, independent journalists in China are noted for their autonomous and investigative reporting (Svensson 2017), although they too must contend with both government oppression and unstable income, occasionally facing incarceration for reporting on sensitive issues (Svensson 2017; Xin 2010). In the context of this study, both citizen and independent journalists are characterised as operating within the freelance market; they are not affiliated with any specific media organisations and earn their livelihood mainly by contributing news articles to various media platforms.

Scholarly discourse has acknowledged the vital role of citizen and independent journalists in championing rights and unveiling social problems in China (see, e.g., Svensson 2017; Xin 2010). However, there has been relatively little analysis of the framing processes these journalists adopt, particularly in relation to women’s issues. Moreover, existing research on the journalistic practices of state and commercial media outlets tends to focus on the reporting of political and major social events, such as corruption within local authorities (see, e.g., Stockmann 2013; Tong 2014). There is a notable absence of research on how Chinese journalists construct and frame women’s issues, including sexual violence against women.

Contextualising News Values

News values are core criteria that guide journalists in choosing, presenting, and prioritising certain events and individuals as news. Western media researchers have identified a range of specific news values, including Negativity, Timeliness, Proximity, Consonance, Impact, Novelty, Superlativeness, Personalisation, and Eliteness (see, e.g., Bednarek and Caple 2012; Caple and Bednarek 2016). However, studies have shown that news values can differ across countries and regions, given their unique cultural, political-economic contexts, and the particular agendas of news organisations (see, e.g., Caple and Bednarek 2016; Goulandris and McLaughlin 2020; Huan 2016).

In Western societies, the portrayal of a victim as newsworthy and deserving of public attention is closely tied to factors like race, class, gender, and sexual orientation (Gilchrist 2010; Goulandris and McLaughlin 2020; Greer 2017; Waterhouse-Watson 2012). In cases of sexual crimes, conventionally attractive, well-educated, upper-middle-class white women, who are characterised as “good” (e.g., innocent and kind), tend to receive more public empathy and media attention due to their perceived newsworthiness (Gilchrist 2010; Goulandris and McLaughlin 2020; Greer 2017). Analysing how journalists interpret the news values associated with sexual violence and its victims is the key to understanding whether media outlets offer balanced portrayals of victims across diverse classes, races, ethnicities, and genders.

Turning to the Chinese context, several studies have identified cultural influences on news values: Jeffreys (2010, 69), for example, discusses the role of Chinese news media in affirming and espousing sexual chastity among Chinese women, as evidenced by the prevalent images of “ideal womanhood” in news reports from 1997 to 2010. Some Chinese journalists used the term “lienü” (chastity heroines), referring to women who would prefer death over sexual assault or prostitution, reinforcing traditional male superiority and double standards against women (Jeffreys 2010, 67). Such double standards reflect Confucian cultural norms that regard sexual topics as taboo and value female virginity and chastity highly.

Chinese women continue to face stigma for premarital sex and childbearing (Ho et al. 2018; Wang 2017). Negative attitudes towards female victims and feminists persist, both implicitly and explicitly, in Chinese media and popular discourse. Such attitudes are exemplified by the online harassment of women who support sexual violence victims and the #MeToo movement (Sun 2020). They are also evident in news reports that blame victims instead of perpetrators as a means of propagating patriarchal ideology and describe female victims who have lost their virginity as having “blemishes” on their lives in news reports (Xu and Tan 2019; Yu 2021).

Framing Sexual Violence

Framing is the process whereby a journalist seeks to influence the audience’s perception and interpretation of a news story through the selective presentation of information and context (Lee, McLeod, and Shah 2008). Framing is a cognitive process in that a journalist’s choice of frames preferentially activates certain cognitive schemas or concepts in the audience, thereby influencing how they interpret the content presented (Lee, McLeod, and Shah 2008).

For the purposes of this research, it is important to distinguish between journalist frames and news frames. Journalist frames are a consistent set of cognitive patterns that individual journalists employ when addressing social issues (Brüggemann 2014; Scheufele 2006). News frames, in contrast, are broad frameworks within news reporting that are cognitively and culturally accessible to journalists when addressing social issues (Brüggemann 2014). Iyengar (1991, 2) identifies two frameworks used in news reporting: the “episodic” news frame and the “thematic” news frame. The episodic news frame focuses on specific events and details, causing audiences to consider issues in isolation and assign responsibility to individuals. In contrast, the thematic news frame positions political matters and events within a broader context, leading audiences to view them as social issues and assign responsibility to the government and society.

Yu (2021) argues that Chinese journalists, under the influence of traditional Confucian values, are inclined to frame sexual violence as a consequence of individual moral shortcomings, attributing responsibility to individuals rather than broader social systems. Yu (2021) observes, for example, that Chinese journalists reporting on cases involving child sexual abuse often attribute blame to the victims’ behaviour or lifestyle, rather than societal or environmental factors. However, it may be overhasty to attribute this tendency solely to the cultural influence of Confucianism, since other factors, such as personal values, political and economic forces, and organisational pressures, may also influence the news framing process. Zeng (2019), for example, argues that political pressures make Chinese journalists reluctant to hold high-ranking politicians and institutions to account, resorting instead to blaming victims when it refers to cases of sexual violence.

Numerous scholars (e.g., Baden 2019; Brüggemann 2014; Engesser and Brüggemann 2016) recognise the active role journalists play in framing news reporting and influencing the news values associated with social issues. However, as Brüggemann (2014) points out, the final news products presented to audiences do not reveal the factors that influenced journalists during process of news production. This recalls Fürsich’s (2009) point that merely understanding how journalists represent certain social events is not enough; it is also necessary to examine the factors and power structures responsible for problematic media messages. The present study seeks to contribute to the framing studies literature by investigating the factors influencing the cognitive frames Chinese journalists use when reporting on sexual violence against women and how these perceptions differ between various professional contexts within journalism.

Methods

This study used two criteria for participant selection to build a relatively representative sample of Chinese journalists. First, participants had to be Chinese journalists with experience in reporting on women’s issues, with a preference for those who have covered incidents of sexual violence against women in China. Second, participants were required to possess personal viewpoints pertaining to incidents of sexual violence.

Participants were mostly recruited via the author’s contacts within the national media, which were established through internships and employment at several party and commercial news outlets in China between 2013 and 2018. Snowball sampling was also used, whereby journalists within the author’s network referred colleagues and acquaintances who met the criteria. As an additional recruitment channel, some journalists were contacted through social platforms such as Weibo and WeChat. This method proved especially valuable for contacting citizen and independent journalists, who were not included in the author’s established network due to their lack of institutional affiliation.

Between October 17 and December 27, 2020, the author conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 Chinese journalists (16 women and 6 men), working in four different cities and across different media segments. (See the Table 1 for detailed participant information.) Nine participants were affiliated with party outlets, seven with commercial news outlets, two were independent journalists who also identified as feminist activists, and the remaining four were citizen journalists. The representation of diverse journalistic backgrounds in the sample ensured a rich dataset, suitable for investigating how different organisational contexts influence journalists’ perceptions of sexual violence.

Table 1. Participant profiles.

ID	Age (years)	Seniority (years)	Gender	Work Unit
Min	27	2	Female	Party News Outlet
Xiao	25	2	Female	Party News Outlet
Ye	26	0.5	Female	Party News Outlet
Yu	26	2	Female	Party News Outlet
Shu	26	1.3	Female	Party News Outlet
Shuo	31	5	Female	Party News Outlet
Yan	25	1.5	Female	Party News Outlet
Qian	25	0.5	Male	Party News Outlet
Lei	26	2	Male	Party News Outlet
Ai	26	3	Female	Commercial News Outlet
Tai	25	2	Female	Commercial News Outlet
Hu	27	4	Female	Commercial News Outlet
Jing	30	8	Female	Commercial News Outlet
Xin	24	2	Female	Commercial News Outlet
Che	26	1.5	Male	Commercial News Outlet
Zi	32	10	Male	Commercial News Outlet
Ru	32	10	Female	Independent Journalism
Bei	24	3	Female	Independent Journalism
San	19	3	Female	Citizen Journalism
Chang	26	1	Female	Citizen Journalism
Sheng	21	1	Male	Citizen Journalism
Quan	31	4.5	Male	Citizen Journalism

Semi-structured interviews combine pre-determined questions with the flexibility to explore novel topics or follow-up on specific participants’ responses. This study primarily used interview questions concerning the participants’ perceptions and practices relating to media reports of sexual violence against women in China. Predetermined questions included:

1. What kind of female victims of sexual violence do you think attract the most attention from the media? Why?

2. What kind of female victims of sexual violence do you think you would rather not report on? Why?

Natural evolution in the conversations led to further questions such as:

1. What do you think is the “ideal” victim?

2. Who is a “non-ideal” victim?

3. What kind of victims of sexual violence do you think you are more likely to trust?

12 face-to-face and 10 online interviews were conducted, with the choice of format determined by the participants’ preferences. For the online interviews, secure software such as Google Meetings and the Signal app was used. Participants interviewed in person met the author in quiet, private spaces such as meeting rooms or private residences. Interview durations ranged from 40 min to three and a half hours. Prior to the interviews, each participant was provided with an information sheet and an informed consent form to review and sign. All participants gave permission for interview data to be used for research purposes. To maintain confidentiality, real names have been replaced with pseudonyms.

The interviews were transcribed and translated into English by the author. Following this, the interview data was imported into NVivo for in-depth examination and thematic analysis. By considering both the interview questions and the responses given, the author was able to discern two contrasting aspects of two diametrical themes: the “idealness” of victims and newsworthiness of victims.

Findings

The debate over the degree of overlap between “ideal” and “newsworthy” victims of sexual violence is ongoing (e.g., Gekoski, Gray, and Adler 2012; Goulandris and McLaughlin 2020). An “ideal” victim is one considered more deserving of complete and unequivocal victim status compared to others (Christie 1986; Goulandris and McLaughlin 2020). Christie (1986) distinguishes six characteristics of “ideal victim”: they are perceived as weak, they were victimised while engaged in a respectable activity, they are unlikely to be blamed, they are able to bring their victimisation to public attention, and they were harmed by an offender who is a stranger and perceived as malicious.

Newsworthy victims, on the other hand, are those perceived as warranting more media coverage and wider public attention than others, or are “commercially exploitable” (Goulandris and McLaughlin 2020, 3). While ideal and newsworthy victimhood are conceptually distinct, some studies (e.g., Gekoski, Gray, and Adler 2012) suggest that the ideal victims are more likely to capture public attention and sympathy, thereby increasing their perceived newsworthiness.

The newsworthiness and idealness of victims were the two main themes of this study. In the context of sexual violence against women, the journalists interviewed generally perceived ideal victims as partly overlapping with newsworthy victims. However, while non-ideal victims may also be considered newsworthy, their stories are less likely to receive media coverage due to factors such as apprehensions about public opinion, traditional cultural expectations, concerns over media credibility, and organisational pressures.

Overlap Between Ideal Victims and Newsworthy Victims

Yu, a female journalist affiliated with a party news outlet, reported that her readers were more interested in victims who are “passive”, “vulnerable”, and “innocent”, making them ideal victims who conform to traditional gender norms. While this reiterates a cultural stereotype of sexual violence victims in the Chinese context, journalists like Yu are prepared to exploit it to satisfy their audience. As Yu explained:

I feel that men are quite strong, and women are weak. I know it is a stereotype, but people love to see it. (Yu, 18 October 2020)

As well as identifying a prevalent stereotype among the news-reading public, Yu’s comments suggest that even party media outlets must occasionally cater to public opinion and popular preferences to sustain or broaden their readership. Scholars such as Huan (2016) and Stockmann (2013) argue that, in the wake of media marketisation in China, simply adhering to government directives and presenting the CCP favourably is no longer sustainable; readers’ interests and news values therefore matter, even to party outlets. As a result, journalists have increasingly emphasised the “ideal” traits of victims in reports of sexual violence.

Several other participants from various professional backgrounds (e.g., Zi, Lei, Sheng, Chang, Yan) shared Yu’s tendency to perpetuate gender stereotypes by promoting images of “ideal victimhood”. Often, these images conformed to Chinese cultural expectations of women as vulnerable, passive, and innocent. Some journalists admitted highlighting or even exaggerating the vulnerability of victims, emphasising the fear, trauma, and loss of virginity resulting from sexual violence. Zi, for example, stated, “We sometimes deliberately portray victimised women as weak since we want them to gain public sympathy”. Yan based a similar claim on her observation of website clicks and comments: “The more vulnerable she [the victim] is, the more sympathy and attention [the audience] will give to her”. These remarks suggest a belief that, in a patriarchal society, the most effective way to portray female victims as “ideal” victims deserving of sympathy and attention is to accentuate their weakness and vulnerability.

Some male participants noted that a victim’s virginity and chastity were also factors in determining whether a victim was “ideal”, as such traits added news value to instances of sexual violence. These participants’ narratives revealed their endorsement of the patriarchal view that virginity and chastity render victims more “ideal”. For example, Che stated that, from his perspective as a commercial journalist, “An ideal victim is someone who has no sexual experience”. Other male journalists, such as the citizen journalist Sheng, and the party outlet journalists Lei and Qian, echoed Che’s sentiments, similarly emphasising the importance of virginity and chastity in constructing the ideal victim. A telling indication is their prioritisation of sexual violence cases involving “maiden”, “little girls”, and “underage girls” over assaults on mature women when evaluating the newsworthiness of victims.

There was a general tendency among the journalists to moralise the newsworthiness of victims of sexual violence, which therefore partially align with the criteria for ideal victimhood (e.g., vulnerability, passiveness, innocence, timidity, and virginity/chastity). In turn, the criteria for ideal victimhood closely mirror traditional Chinese gender norms and stereotypes, reflecting an idealised image of Chinese women as obedient, tender, and sexually chaste.

In the wider Chinese context, sexuality and sexual behaviour are heavily moralised due to cultural and political influences. Regarding political factors, Xie (2019, 3) argues that the party-state uses “socialist morality” as a pretext for regulating sex and sexuality, often inhibiting Chinese women from exercising their agency. This socialist morality encourages people to control their sexual desires and instincts, contending that sex ideally occur only between monogamous, married partners and for the purposes of procreation (Aresu 2009; Zarafonetis 2014). Culturally, Chinese society has a deep-rooted preoccupation with female virginity and chastity (Luo 2000), which leads Chinese men to favour chaste woman as wives (Higgins et al. 2002). As Chan (2009) observes, the valorisation of chastity in traditional culture has resulted in a tendency to label women who have experienced sexual violence as adulterers or as having a bad reputation. Such pervasive cultural norms encourage Chinese women to regard control over their sexuality and preservation of their chastity as a moral imperative.

This idealised image of victims of sexual violence reinforces traditional gender roles, suggesting that women are the custodians of their own chastity and purity who have a responsibility to protect themselves from violent outsiders (Wang and Ho 2011). This belief places the burden of preventing sexual violence squarely on the victims rather than the perpetrators, and perpetuates the stereotype that women are weak and abused while men are strong and aggressive. The gender stereotype that women should be weak, passive, timid, and innocent further robs women of their capacity to demonstrate their resilience and agency as survivors.

Some scholars have argued that increased media coverage of women’s resistance can empower women and discourage men from attempting such attacks (Hollander and Rodgers 2014). My findings suggest, however, that some Chinese journalists equate the traits of ideal victims with those of newsworthy victims—a conflation that significantly undermines victims’ agency and resilience. The perception of victims as “weak people” and “passive objects of pity” (Gracia 2018, 300) also contributes to social inequality and hinders the pursuit of social justice. Specifically, as we shall see in the following section, victims are more likely to face judgement and blame when they do not meet the criteria of an ideal victim, thereby losing their newsworthiness, public sympathy, and access to justice.

This section posits that merely reporting on sexual violence cases in China is insufficient to achieve gender equality and alter social perceptions of sexual violence. Rather the manner in which sexual violence is reported and how victims are portrayed in the news media also have important roles to play.

Non-Ideal Versus Non-Newsworthy Victims

Goulandris and McLaughlin (2020) argue that non-ideal victims of sexual violence can still be considered newsworthy provided that the news story includes certain sensational elements, such as graphic sexual violence, nudity, or death. However, the accounts of the Chinese journalists suggest that non-ideal victims of sexual violence may receive less media coverage. Many participants equated non-ideal victims with those who are “ignored” due to perceived flaws, leading them to be deemed unworthy of attention or empathy. Some journalists expressed a reluctance to cover disputed cases involving non-ideal victims, due to the potential ramification for their credibility and perceived legitimacy. Factors identified as contributing to the designation of victims as non-ideal including the following:

1. The victim did not promptly report the incident to the police (Xin, Tai, Zi, Jing, Sheng).

2. The victim requested financial compensation (Hu, Xin, Che, Jing, and Yu).

3. The victim provided implausible accounts and/or motivations (Jing, Yu, Tai, Zi, Xin, Qian, and Shuo).

4. The victim was suspected of benefiting from a romantic relationship with the accused (Yu, Xin, Jing, Shuo, and Sheng).

5. The victim wore revealing attire or had a history of multiple sexual partners (Lei, San, Sheng, Tai, Qian, and Che).

Rape myths, broadly speaking, are unfounded beliefs that attribute the blame for sexual violence to the victims rather than the perpetrator, effectively exonerating the latter and making it harder for victims to receive the help and support they require (Suarez and Gadalla 2010). The criteria participants used to identify non-ideal victims somewhat indicate an acceptance of rape myths, with some participants referencing more than one such myth. Acceptance of rape myths was evident among both male and female journalists, and was consistent between journalists working in commercial news organisations, party outlets, and the freelance market. This indicates the pervasive influence of rape myths across different journalistic backgrounds and gender perspectives.

Among the participants, the individual exceptions were two independent female journalists who are also feminist activists, namely Ru and Bei. In their narratives, they reflected the influence of feminist thought, therefore showing a clearer cognition and resistance to the patriarchal culture and rape myths. In their interviews, they did not blame or judge sexual violence victims and claimed that all non-ideal sexual violence victims are worthy of obtaining the help of society and the media. They pointed out that the blame should be placed on the sexual criminals and perpetrators. Their accounts remind us of the important role feminist journalists can play in breaking down rape myths and gender stereotypes and empowering less-than-ideal victims.

Notably, most participants’ endorsement of entrenched rape myths was not the only factor making them reluctant to report on non-ideal victims of sexual violence. Pressure to conform to public opinion and traditional norms, as well as professional reputation and organisational pressure, also played important roles.

Regarding public opinion, Sheng noted that Chinese readers often judge victims based on emotion, and are more likely to adopt victim-blaming attitudes when the victim’s behaviour does not conform to established social norms. Thus, Sheng explained, “keeping non-ideal victims out of the media spotlight may spare them secondary victimisation”, as public exposure could invite judgement and blame. This concern may be justified, as victim-blaming culture remains pervasive in China, resulting in an environment in which victims of sexual violence often find little empathy (Sun 2020; Xu and Tan 2019; Yu 2021).

Several journalists cited professional reputation as an important factor, reasoning that reporting on non-ideal victims risked complicating already contentious sexual violence cases and undermining the credibility of their organisations. For example, Lei stated,

As a news media representative, if I report that this is a case of sexual violence, and the next day it turns out that the victim had lied to us, it would be really embarrassing and damage our credibility. (Lei, 6 November 2020)

This concern regarding source credibility is a key consideration in journalism (Barnoy and Reich 2022). Unconfirmed cases can increase the risk of inaccurate reporting, and using disreputable sources can threaten a media outlet’s credibility (Barnoy and Reich 2022). Bei put this point in financial terms, stating that reporting on controversial cases involving non-ideal victims can lead to readers unsubscribing from certain news outlets, resulting in lost advertising revenue. Such concerns incline journalists to report on “credible” victims, who generally conform to the “ideal victim” archetype. To meet public expectations and create favourable public sentiment, editors may request journalists to portray a positive image of the victim. Jing, for example, recalled:

The victim must be perfect and innocent. […] It must be presented like this […] Our editors asked us to do it. They [the editors] hope that the manuscripts we report will be praised by everyone, not scolded by everyone, for the sake of public opinion. (Jing, 26 November 2020)

Jing’s account suggests that editorial pressures encourage journalists to emphasise ideal victimhood in their reporting on sexual violence. The implicit assumption is that, as long as the victims conform to this standard, public perception of the story will likely be positive.

In assessing whether victims of sexual violence are “ideal” and newsworthy, journalists are deciding their worthiness of media coverage, public attention, their potential for favourable public sentiment, and their impact on credibility and reputation. Making the wrong decision can negatively impact revenue from subscriptions and advertising. Consequently, journalists perceive themselves as “gatekeepers”, who must meticulously vet victims to avoid controversies that could harm their reputation and those of their organisations.

While “news values” and “audience taste” are two distinct concepts, media commercialisation has brought them into closer alignment. In terms of news values, Chinese journalists significantly conflate newsworthy victims with “ideal” victimhood. This may reflect the concept of consonance in news values, which refers to the notion that an incident is more newsworthy if it conforms to “the stereotypes that people hold” (Bednarek and Caple 2012, 104). This concept clearly prioritises audience taste. Conversely, when journalists marginalise “non-ideal” victims due to organisational pressures and concerns about credibility, the attributes of news values relating to the incident itself appear less important. As a result, this practice has contributed to the symbolic erasure of so-called non-ideal victims in Chinese society.

This study reveals that the seemingly trivial criteria Chinese journalists use to frame victims are influenced by the acceptance of rape myths and gender stereotypes prevalent in Chinese society. Just as scholars (Franiuk, Seefelt, and Vandello 2008, 799) observed that American journalists are “not immune to cultural influences”, this appears to apply to the Chinese context as well. Moreover, these findings indicate that Chinese journalists use these framing criteria to conform to both market demands and editorial/professional requirements. In defining the news value standards for incidents of sexual violence, journalists and editors must inevitably take into account market needs and audience preferences.

Conclusion

This study adopted a journalist-centric approach to investigate how Chinese journalists perceive incidents of sexual violence against women, focusing on the factors influencing their framing of such incidents. This research is significant in the Chinese context, which is characterised by stringent media regulation and censorship. Specifically, the study has made three main contributions:

Firstly, the study offers a non-Western perspective on news values related to sexual violence, revealing the tendency among Chinese journalists to conflate “ideal” and “newsworthy” victims. Specifically, the findings reveal that Chinese journalists associate both ideal and newsworthy victims with traits such as vulnerability, passiveness, innocence, timidity, and virginity/chastity. It has been argued that this conflation is partly attributable to deeply ingrained traditional gender norms and audience preferences in China. For example, some journalists deliberately emphasised the vulnerability and powerlessness of female victims to generate public attention and sympathy and thus broaden their readership. With the exception of two independent journalists who are also feminists, this inclination was consistent across work backgrounds and genders, confirming the breadth of influence of traditional gender stereotypes in China.

The findings also suggest that when a victim is deemed non-ideal based on rape myth criteria, Chinese journalists are often hesitant to report the case due to concerns about public opinion, media credibility, and editorial pressures. This observation enriches our understanding of news values, showing that such values cannot be isolated from their particular cultural and economic context.

Secondly, the study has contributed to the existing literature on framing, specifically as it pertains to women’s issues. Victims deemed newsworthy by Chinese journalists are expected to be vulnerable, timid, traumatised, and preferably virginal/chaste. Iyengar (1991) argues that journalistic framing has a significant influence on audiences. Thus, when the media downplays or neglects “non-ideal” victims, audiences may increasingly perceive “ideal” victims of sexual violence as rightful recipients of social and media support. However, if public blame is directed at even “ideal” victims, “non-ideal” victims may reject assistance, and audiences may blame victims for displaying non-ideal characteristics in media coverage.

Third, the study confirms the applicability of sociological analysis to problematic news phenomena. As Schudson (2011, xiv) states, “journalists not only report reality but also create it”, and it is essential to acknowledge they do not work independently from cultural forces. Therefore, when journalistic practices fall short, the responsibility does not fall solely on journalists. Future studies should look more deeply into underlying influences, such as the pervasive marketisation of media and commercial culture promoting rape myths and gender stereotypes, and the “post-truth” trend of emotions and personal convictions overshadowing factual truths. Exploring these factors may further clarify why Chinese journalists prefer reporting on “ideal” victims and emphasise victims’ “ideal” traits.

This study has some limitations: Notably, the participants may not fully represent all Chinese journalists, who are a highly heterogenous group. Several sectors of Chinese journalism, such as radio and television news agencies and local party newspapers from less economically developed regions, were not included in this study, though they warrant further exploration. Additionally, due to ethical considerations, this study did not disclose or analyse the journalists’ specific news reports on sexual violence, making it impossible to fully evaluate the extent to which their cognitive frames influenced their news frames. This limitation suggests a future research direction: exploring how and to what extent Chinese journalists’ cognitive frames affect their news frames regarding sexual violence. Future research might also examine other aspects of victim framing, such as the circumstances in which a victim might be considered ideal but not newsworthy, or the traits that might render a non-ideal victim newsworthy.

Acknowledgements

I sincerely thank my supervisors for their professional support during my Ph.D. studies. I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers and editors for their precious time and helpful suggestions on this paper. Finally, I would like to thank all the participants, whose names I cannot disclose here, for their active participation.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The initial part of this research was undertaken with the support of the China Scholarship Council (CSC) [grant number 201908140114].