Framing Human Trafficking: A Content Analysis of Recent U.S. Newspaper Articles Rachealle Sanford, Daniel E. Martínez, and Ronald Weitzer Sociology Department, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA ABSTRACT The news media can play a significant role in shaping public perceptions of social problems. One of these, human trafficking, has attracted increasing media attention since the early 2000s. This article builds on earlier work with a content analysis of articles on human trafficking published in the New York Times and the Washington Post during 2012–2013. In order to identify both continuities and changes in reporting over time, we replicate and expand on a study of the 1980–2006 time period, in addition to analyzing additional factors not examined in the previous study. In addition to documenting a sharply increasing amount of coverage compared to earlier years, we examine the ways in which trafficking is defined and framed, the types of sources relied on in the articles, the types of victims that received the most attention, and other important features. We docu- ment key similarities and differences over time in reporting on human trafficking. KEYWORDS Human trafficking; law enforcement; mass media; policy Introduction The mass media can influence both official policies and public perceptions of human traffick- ing (Riffe, Lacy, & Fico, 2014; Vance, 2012). Such representations can invoke a variety of images. There is the impoverished young girl, sold into a life of prostitution to feed her family, as portrayed in Sold, a bestselling novel. There is also the image of the innocent teenager kidnapped by foreign traffickers and forced into sexual slavery, as depicted in the 2008 movie Taken. And some accounts imply that trafficking victims are hidden in plain sight, for example, Peter Landesman’s controversial 2004 New York Times article, “The Girls Next Door.” These portrayals may tell only a small part of the larger story regarding human trafficking and yet may nevertheless predominate in media reporting on the issue. This article examines news media coverage of trafficking with data from a content analysis of recent newspaper articles published in two of the most esteemed and widely-read U.S. newspapers. CONTACT Daniel E. Martínez danielmartinez@gwu.edu Sociology Department, George Washington University, 801 22nd Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA. Rachealle Sanford received her M.A. in criminology at George Washington University in 2014. She is currently working for the federal government and plans to pursue her doctoral education in the future. Daniel E. Martínez is an assistant professor of sociology at George Washington University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in sociology. His research interests include unauthorized migration, human smuggling, youth gangs, and drug-trafficking violence. Ronald Weitzer is a professor of sociology at George Washington University. He has published extensively in the areas of human trafficking, prostitution, and race and policing, and his books include Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform (Cambridge University Press, 2006) and Legalizing Prostitution: From Illicit Vice to Lawful Business (NYU Press, 2012). © 2016 Taylor & Francis JOURNAL OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING 2016, VOL. 2, NO. 2, 139–155 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2015.1107341 Downloaded by [John Jay College of Criminal Justice] at 19:05 31 May 2016