Introduction

The global sports community is facing a reckoning. Recent high-profile cases of sexual abuse in the USA Gymnastics team have drawn attention to the collective failure of sports institutions and governing bodies to effectively prevent and respond to child athlete abuse. It reflects a growing recognition that young athletes need specific kinds of services, supports, and safeguards in order to compete successfully, develop well, and stay free from harm.

These changes require not only institutional will but also public support.

Our analysis of media frames shows that coverage of child athlete abuse centers around a set of distinct narratives or story types. These portray the issue as playing out in courtroom dramas with survivors cast as resilient heroes and abusers as monstrous villains.

This report, sponsored by the Oak Foundation, documents the frames and storytelling strategies employed by the media and identifies their strategic implications. It provides advocates and communicators with a detailed understanding of the discursive environment in which they operate and offers preliminary recommendations for how to move public thinking about child athlete abuse in more productive directions.