FROM THE RESTROOM TO THE PRESSROOM: A QUALITATIVE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF DIGITAL SEXUAL CRIME IN SOUTH KOREA

Abstract

Digital sexual crime has recently emerged as a moral panic in South Korea. In 2018, a newly formed women’s group organized a series of street rallies, which drew record crowds, in response to digital sexual crime and what some felt were biased investigations. This study is a qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles about digital sexual crime published in 2018 in two ideologically distinct South Korean newspapers, Dong-a Ilbo and Hankyoreh. In addition to showing characteristics of a moral panic, the newspaper coverage shows that the South Korean government shifted its focus from inspecting public restrooms to investigating and controlling online distribution networks. Although the government and the women’s movement framed digital sexual crime differently, they were in consensus that it was a serious issue requiring urgent attention. The media also called upon experts, often university professors, who expressed the seriousness of the problem and offered a variety of solutions beyond inspecting public restrooms. The government was slow to catch up to the recommendations from the women’s movement and other experts, but at the end of 2018 it shifted away from restroom inspections. In keeping with moral panic theory, the system of social control was strengthened by the introduction of new laws, longer sentences, and a reckoning with online storage services known as webhards.