Coverage of Domestic Violence Fatalities by Newspapers in Washington State

Abstract

This study explores how newspapers portray domestic violence fatalities, how accurately they reflect the victim' experiences and the broader social problem of domestic violence, and the implications of the patterns of portrayal. Using quantitative content analysis and frame analysis, the authors examined 1998 coverage of domestic violence homicides by all newspapers in Washington State. Overall, the analyses indicate that coverage gave a distorted view of domestic violence and victims' experiences, often supporting common misconceptions about domestic violence. The coverage generally presented domestic violence in terms of isolated incidents, rather than portraying it as a larger social problem. A handful of articles did not fit this mold. These portrayed domestic violence as a social problem with the potential to affect every reader, indicating that domestic violence fatalities can be more accurately portrayed within the boundaries of current journalistic norms and practices and pointing to ways journalists can improve coverage.

Content and Framing of Male- and Female-Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence in Print News

“…Specifically, the process of framing entails selecting certain aspects of an issue (e.g., individual factors that increase risk for IPV such as gender) and making them more prominent in discourse so that a particular perspective is emphasized (Entman, 1993). In other words, framing is a mechanism through which journalists may shape public attitudes-whether intentionally or not-through the amount and placement of new coverage, exclusion or inclusion of specific information, word choice, repetition of information, and linking familiar symbols to the subject matter (Bullock, 2007;Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Entman, 1993). The more frequently a particular frame is used by the media for a specific issue, the more likely it is to be accepted by the public at large (Carlyle, Slater, & Chakroff, 2008), for example, that women are necessarily victims of IPV and men, necessarily perpetrators.…”

Media Representations of Intimate Partner Violence and Punishment Preferences: Exploring the Role of Attributions and Emotions

“…Several researchers have argued that media representations of violence tend to ignore structural or contextual factors and instead privilege specific, individual problems (Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Carlyle, Slater, & Chakroff, 2008;Kozol, 1995), which can be problematic. For example, Maxwell, Huxford, Borum, and Hornik (2000) argued that media assert a significant role in how IPV is understood as a social issue; in particular, by covering specific incidents of IPV, media moves the responsibility to solve the problem from society to the individual.…”

Historia reciente de la cobertura periodística de la violencia contra las mujeres en el contexto español (1997-2001)

“…En España, igual que en otros países [19][20][21] , la cobertura periodística de la violencia contra las mujeres se incrementa a partir de un caso índice de relevancia social: el asesinato de la señora Ana Orantes. El seguimiento realizado entre 1997 y 2001 permite identificar otros sucesos que también han dado lugar a incrementos puntuales en la cobertura periodística del problema.…”