News and Media Research Centre

The Media Guides for Reporting on Child Sexual Abuse Project

The N&MRC was commissioned by the National Office for Child Safety to develop evidence-based Guides to encourage and support responsible, trauma-informed reporting of child sexual abuse in the media, and to equip and support victims and survivors to liaise productively and safely with media. The Guides were developed through an extensive process of academic literature review, comparative guidelines review, qualitative and quantitative media analysis and a multi-phased consultation process with key stakeholders from media, child safety sectors and victims and survivors.

Visit the Media Guides for Reporting on Child Sexual Abuse Project webpage.

Understanding Gambling Harm in the Digital Age

Much is known about community views on gambling advertisements and tagline style communication such as ‘gamble responsibly’. We know less about community perceptions of gambling harm and the kinds of messages they think should be promoted to raise awareness and inform people about gambling harm. What types of messages do they believe are important? What should be avoided? What messages resonate and why?

This research project sought to identify ACT community attitudes and beliefs about gambling harm, levels of understanding of different types of harm, and views on how best to approach harm mitigation and prevention practices. Guided by a public health approach, this research undertook a survey of ACT community members, interviews and focus groups with members of the community as well as professionals and experts in their fields and developed and tested communication materials. It is one of the first major research projects in the ACT which has explored gambling harm from a public health communication perspective.

The findings of this research have now been published and are available to download.