ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses what Nick Couldry problematises as the nature of 'voice', media, governance, and neoliberalism by specifically exploring governmentality and the role that media play in the creation of cultures. It also discusses relationships between the state, Christian institutions, and survivors by exploring the ways in which survivors are represented and recognised, and how their victimisation and position as political subjects are given agency through media. Media are also viewed as a source of power to exert influence on institutions and on government. The combination of media reporting and public inquiry legitimises the 'experience' of survivors and creates a public discourse that brings recognition to the survivors of clergy abuse as political subjects. Media representations and investigative journalism have played a significant, if not the most significant, role in garnering the momentum necessary for exposing abuses of power and compelling governments to action in addressing child sexual abuse (CSA) by clergy.
