The Odenwaldschule Ober-Hambach in Hesse, which has since been closed, was a state-recognized reformist boarding school in Germany that enjoyed an excellent reputation for a long time. It has since been proven that systematic sexual abuse of children and young people were committed at the Odenwaldschule in the 1970s to 1980s by the former principal Gerold Becker as the main perpetrator, as well as by other teachers. Scientific studies and victims' associations assume that there are 500 to 900 victims in the dark field.
As the case of the Odenwaldschule is a very well-investigated case of institutional sexual abuse and also attracted a great deal of media attention, this case was selected for a media quality analysis. Using a sample of N=325 German-language newspaper articles, the Media Psychology and Media Design Group at Technische Universität Ilmenau examined the extent to which the press articles adequately or inadequately addressed the complex and emotionalizing topic of child sexual abuse in accordance with established journalistic quality standards. The study was published in the journal Studies in Communication and Media (SCM).
Sources:
Döring, N. & Walter, R. (2024). Extended Abstract: Quality of Reporting on Child Sexual Abuse at the Odenwaldschule in Germany: An Empirical Comparison between Quality and Tabloid Press. Studies in Communication and Media 13(1), 38-45. https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2024-1-38
Döring, N. & Walter, R. (2024). Qualität der Berichterstattung über sexuellen Kindesmissbrauch an der Odenwaldschule: Ein empirischer Vergleich zwischen Qualitäts- und Boulevardpresse [Quality of Reporting on Child Sexual Abuse at the Odenwaldschule in Germany: An Empirical Comparison between Quality and Tabloid Press]. Studies in Communication and Media 13(1), 8-37. https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2024-1-8