Social representations of intimate partner violence in the South African media

Abstract

South Africa has one of the highest rates of intimate partner violence in the world. The South African mass media have been recognised as playing an important role in influencing individual cognitions of social issues, including intimate partner violence. However, few studies have investigated how such violence is represented within the South African media. This article explores how the print media constructs men’s perpetrated violence against female partners, attending in particular to how and to what effect extreme acts of violence are represented in data from three newspapers that attract the highest readership in the Western Cape. Guided by social representations theory, an inductive thematic analysis was conducted to identify social representations of intimate partner violence as evident in 17 articles reporting on men’s perpetration of violence against intimate female partners. The analysis suggests that this form of violence is predominantly represented in terms of extreme acts of physical violence. This representation functions to reduce violence against women to a simplistic binary of male perpetration and female victimhood, undermining the complexities of this social phenomenon in South Africa. The article highlights the importance of representing intimate partner violence in a more comprehensive manner.

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“…An event is more likely to be reported if it meets multiple criteria. These criteria are agreed upon by other authors throughout the literature, particularly the need for sensational components (Isaacs, 2016;Smith & Bond, 2019;Wong & Lee 2018) and criminal elements (Isaacs 2016;Meyer, 2018). Michele Lloyd and Shula Ramon (2017) add that the sexualization of DV is also used to increase its appeal and newsworthiness.…”

“…Michele Lloyd and Shula Ramon (2017) add that the sexualization of DV is also used to increase its appeal and newsworthiness. Additionally, Isaacs (2016) notes that there is a disproportional focus on DV events that result in homicide or where acts are horrific enough to be deemed 'unusual' cases. This observation is supported by the amount of literature that covers DV homicide or attempted homicide cases.…”

“…I found ten articles that focused exclusively on covering reports of DV that resulted in homicide or attempted homicide (Bullock, 2007;Bullock, 2008;Comas-d'Argemir, 2015;Easteal, Holland, Breen, Vaughan, & Sutherland, 2019;Fairbairn & Dawson, 2013;Hawley, Clifford, & Konkes, 2018;Hernandez, 2018;Jiwani, 2009;Lee & Wong, 2019;Wong & Lee, 2018). Six articles stated that they covered news reports of DV resulting in homicide or attempted homicide and/or any other violent acts that did not result in homicide/attempted homicide (Carlyle et al, 2008;Isaacs, 2016;Lindsay-Brisbin, Deprince, & Welton Mitchell, 2014;Lloyd & Ramon, 2017;Nettleton, 2018;Smith & Bond, 2019). This trend of examining reports that focus on homicide/attempted homicide could be the result of either media selection of the most violent cases or academic focus on violent cases.…”

“…The reliance on law enforcement as key sources in newspaper articles is related to the quick turn around time required by many news media outlets, particularly with the 24-hour news cycle and the dominances of online news (Cullen et al, 2019;Hawley et al, 2018;Simons & Morgan, 2018). It is not surprising that reliance on police sources is recognized as a theme across the literature as the majority of articles look at DV in print news media (Bullock, 2007;Bullock, 2008;Carlyle et al, 2008;Cullen et al, 2019;Easteal et al, 2019;Fairbairn & Dawson, 2013;Hawley et al, 2018;Hernandez, 2018;Isaacs, 2016;Jiwani, 2009;Lee & Wong, 2019;Lindsay-Brisbin et al, 2014;Lloyd & Ramon, 2017;Meloy & Miller, 2009;Smith et al, 2019;Wong & Lee, 2018). Additionally, Meyer (2018) reports that victim advocates are not used as sources by newspaper journalists because they are seen as barriers to reporting.…”

“…Antoinette Smith and colleagues (2019) add that the most newsworthy DV events are sensational or extreme forms of abuse. The most common theme across the literature is that acts are chosen for reporting because they are particularly violent, unexpected, or 'out of the ordinary' (Isaacs, 2016;Meloy & Miller, 2009;Meyer, 2018;Smith et al, 2019;Wong & Lee, 2018). Acts of DV that do not meet the sensational components required to become newsworthy are often overlooked because of the routineness associated with non-homicidal DV (Bullock, 2007;Meyer, 2018).…”