Spaces with media outlets that use sexual assault victim-blaming language or include features that defend rape perpetrators report more cases of rape and fewer related arrests, a University of Michigan study found. Political Science Assistant Professor Yuri Zhukov helped lead the first big data analysis of newspapers from 2000 to 2013 regarding media’s portrayal of rape in the United States. “We used the tone and content of local news reporting as a mea- sure of local norms toward rape, and found that there are more reported instances of rape in U.S. counties where news coverage of sexual assault is particularly insensitive and dismissive,” Zhu- kov wrote in an email interview. “In such areas, police are also less likely to make rape-related ar- rests.” Zhukov began the study when he was working on his Ph.D at Harvard University. Partnering with Harvard officials, he created a machine learning algorithm that read and categorized media reports of all kinds. During the media coverage analysis, however, the researchers came upon a report of an Ohio gang rape case and decided to apply their algorithm explicitly to rape coverage. “We used natural lan- guage processing and ma- chine learning to detect victim-blaming language and other types of content in over 300,000 newspaper articles,” Zhukov wrote. “We then used various statistical estima- tors to establish a correlation between such language and local sexual crime rates, and to exclude various alternative explanations for this relation- ship.” Zhukov’s data correlates biased news coverage with an increase in rape reports and a decrease in police response. An obstacle in his research, however, is that most sexual assaults go unreported and an increase in rape statistics might also be connected with an increase of more victims coming forward or an in- crease in crime. Even in the aftermath of #MeToo, Zhukov claims his study disproves these uncertainties. “Unless more victims are com- ing forward in the exact places where justice is most elusive, what we’re likely seeing is a genuine in- crease in rape,” Zhukov wrote. At the University, sexual mis- conduct reports have risen steadi- ly in the last four years, even as the national reporting rates hovers around 20 percent of survivors notifying authorities of sexual as- sault. This year, the number of reports received by the Office of Institutional Equity jumped by 27 percent. Zhukov said this research can- not determine news coverage causes rape because that goes be- yond the scope of the data. “The more plausible explana- tion –– consistent with previous research –– is that local news reporting reflects local norms toward sexual assault,” Zhukov wrote. “To victims, these norms might dictate how costly it is to come forward and seek justice. And where potential perpetrators believe that rape victims are un- likely to come forward, they may feel more impunity.” Zhukov claims not covering rape stories does more harm be- cause an increase in news stories regarding rape are associated with greater levels of police vigilance and victims coming forward. 2A — Thursday, October 11, 2018 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com News Sudoku Syndication http://sudokusyndication.com/sudoku/generator/print/ 1 of 1 6/12/09 10:03 AM 4 7 6 3 5 2 7 4 9 2 2 3 1 7 4 5 7 1 9 8 3 6 1 4 8 3 5 8 4 CHEESY puzzle by sudokusyndication.com TUESDAY: By Design THURSDAY: Twitter Talk FRIDAY: Behind the Story WEDNESDAY: This Week in History MONDAY: Looking at the Numbers skelleeton @sizzlingfajita people are getting the mumps at umich what decade am i in Emily Yang @emilyfyang the movies department at umich went from one bad acronym (Screen Arts and Cultures, SAC) to another bad one (Film, Television, and media, FTM) Kel @kellybdickel trying not to get hit by a bike on campus is an Olympic sport FKA branches @vuhlinseeuh man umich is a trip sometimes. these yt girls excluded me from our group discussion so I only got to mention one point. when we were called on to share, tell me why the girls regurgitate MY exact point instead of the handful they discussed. this is why I hate group work. 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