The Perceptions of Social Workers in the Field of Child Protection the Media Coverage of their Work

The social work profession has goals, a body of knowledge, methods, and a set of guiding values. At the same time, the profession is multi-faceted and characterized by the wide variety of organizational structures in which it operates; in the targeted populations to which the services are provided; the needs, problems, and difficulties of the clients that the social workers responsible (Salonim-Nevo, 2013). In many Western countries including Great Britain, Australia, and the United States, as well as in Israel, the prevailing public perception towards the profession and towards social workers is negative. This perception is particularly noticeable in the field of child protection (Arzi et al., 2020). One of the main factors influencing the public perception it is the media coverage of social workers and their labor.

 The media are a dominant source of knowledge in modern society and serve as a central mechanism in the construction of the world views of the public opinion (Lahav, 2008). A significant impact effects of the media is evident in their ability to raise and promote issues to the public discourse and in fact to act function as the "agenda setters" of society (McCombs & Shaw, 1974). Studies regarding the influence of the media on the perception of social workers and their labour indicate that the media coverage is one of the main sources of for shaping the public image of the profession and its practitioners (Mc Culloch, et al., 2017). The workers are often presented in a simplistic, lacking and one-sided manner way, which disregard ignores the complexity of their labor work which and does not convey give expression to the sort and the scope of routine work, achievements and successes.

 The media, according to those studies, focuses on rare extreme cases in which social workers have failed in their duty mission (allegedly or as a matter of fact).In many cases, due to privacy confidentiality laws imposed on social workers, there is great difficulty in understanding the bigger picture against the background of the case duty of privacy and confidentiality imposed on social workers, there is great difficulty in clarifying the full picture (Kagan, 2016).

 The current study was based on the theory of social construction and the theory of setting the agenda, with the aim of learning about the experiences of social workers in the field of child protection towards the media coverage of their labor. The study traces the factors that influence the media coverage, the social worker's perception of the level of correspondence between the coverage and the truth, their perception and probability to influence the coverage and in which methods.

The study was conducted in 2018 after receiving the approval of the Ethics Committee of the School of Social Work and examined the perceptions and experiences of social workers in one of the main central focuses of that media coverage - the field of child protection. The research participants were 24 social workers who had worked in this field. The Social workers were interviewed in semi-structured thorough in-depth interviews. The data analysis is done using the method of content analysis. In relation connection with the research question that dealt with the factors that influence the opinion of the participants on the media coverage of social workers and their work in the field of child protection, four themes (factors of influence) were found:

1) Factors related to the nature of the event narration - the characters of the victim and the offender aggressor, and the emotional reactions of the media audience that they evoke: The participants described their feeling that the media tends to cover only negative events that contain descriptions of characters that arouse the public's feelings of anger and emphasize the helplessness of the welfare agencies.

2) Factors related to the social worker and their professional status - The participants described their feeling towards that the professional image of the social workers in the views of their own and the public affects the coverage of their work.

3) Factors related to the journalist and the media - The participants described their feeling that the socio-political and economical background within which the media operates nowadays. The background influenced by economic interests and social trends, affects the nature of media coverage of social issues.

4) Factors related to the relationship between the professions - The participants described their feelings, that on the one hand there is plenty in common between the professions (leading changes, correcting injustices, and representing the peripheral layers). On the other hand, their approach is different (exposure versus confidentiality) which sometimes leads to a lack of cooperation.

In relation to the second research question: does the media present a correct genuine image of the issue of treating children who are abused issues? The responses of the participants were divided into three positions according to their answers: 

The defensive impotent position - is characterized by the perception of the social worker and their labor work in the field of child protection as inferior fields in terms of class. The reports in the media were seen as true and the positions presented was an apologetic position according to which: due to the conditions in which we operate work we cannot be gain a better result.     

The omnipotent defensive position - this position was characterized by the perception of the social worker and social labor work in the field of child protection as superior fields that are not in line with the values of journalistic work. The participants who presented this position described the reports in the media through the devaluation of the media work. That is, due to the commercialized nature in which the economic and value reality in which the media corporations operate, they cannot, in their opinion, describe the social workers and their labor work objectively. Therefore, in this way the participants defended themselves against the cases where there is a failure in the work of the social workers.

The other group presented an understanding of complex reality: the social workers characterized in this position tried to balance the perception of responsibility of the media and the perception of responsibility of the social workers and presented a balanced position.

Finally, in relation to the third and last research question, which explores if the social workers can influence the nature of the coverage of child abuse and neglect, and which methods. The responses of the social workers have been divided into two main groups:

1) A reactive response to the coverage - These social workers view the media coverage as something that needs to be addressed, but cannot be dealt with due to the lack of capital, work overload, lack of self and public esteem, etc.

2) Proactive response to the coverage -The social workers believed that they had the ability to influence the media coverage. However, they debated among themselves on the strategy they should employ. The first subgroup claimed that this should be addressed within the field (from bottom to top). The second subgroup claimed that this should be addressed from the administration to the field (from top to bottom).

The research has a theoretical and practical contribution. From the theoretical aspect, the research is groundbreaking and primarily of its kind, which allows us to understand the experiences and perceptions of social workers towards the media shaping the public opinion regarding child abuse. The research adds knowledge that may help in understanding the obstacles that make it difficult for social workers to operate, besides, their employment conditions. At the practical aspect, the research findings indicate a demand to improve the image of social workers. This may help preserve their personal resilience, their sense of self-esteem, and their professional qualities. At the same time reduce the consequences of negative stigma such as professional attrition and violence towards them. The advised suggestion in this matter is to take proactive and active actions to educate social workers to work in cooperation with the media. Raising public awareness of successful media stories and initiatives that have contributed to both the public and the private sectors. Furthermore, it also concludes that engagement with the media should be an integral part of social workers’ training.