Framing Deadly Domestic Violence

Abstract

The news media play a substantial role in shaping society's perceptions of social issues, including domestic violence. However, minimal research has been conducted to examine whether news media frame stories of femicide within the context of domestic violence. Using frame analysis, the present research compares newspaper articles representing 113 cases of femicide that define the murder as domestic violence to a random sample of 113 cases without coverage defining the femicide as domestic violence. Findings indicate that both groups are represented by multiple frames, including a previously unidentified frame that places the femicide in the context of domestic violence as a social problem.

Changing representations of intimate partner femicides by a Portuguese newspaper (2006 and 2014): from episodic to thematic frames

“…This means that the journalistic tendency to systematically broadcast certain representations of social phenomena may result in the dissemination of those representations as predominant, establishing them as «common sense» (Scheufelle 1999; Bullock and Cubert 2002;Thornborrow 2004;Matheson 2005;Coimbra 2007). Therefore, news articles covering issues such as IPV may proliferate myths and offer overly simplistic, inadequate and distorted images of the extent and nature of the problem (Gillespie et al 2013;Sutherland et al 2016).…”

“…Previous studies about the journalistic portrayals of IPV (Berns 2001;Car-lyle et al 2008;), intimate partner homicide (Bullock and Cubert 2002;Bullock 2008;Wozniak and McCloskey 2010;Fairbairn and Dawson 2013), IPF (Richards et al 2011;Gillespie et al 2013;Comas-d'Argemir 2014), and intimate partner femicide-suicide (Richards et al 2013;Richards et al 2014) have focused on at least some of the aforementioned thematic and episodic frames. These studies have come to the conclusion that thematic frames, such as the reference to other cases of IPV or IPF; the mention of its rates or tendencies; the adequate description of its dynamics and social and psychological impacts; the indication of available resources to victims; and the contextualization of the particular event as involving IPV, either through the use of specific terms or the depiction of a previous pattern of abuse by the perpetrator against the victim, are rarely used (Bullock and Cubert 2002;Bullock 2008;Carlyle et al 2008;Wozniak and McCloskey 2010;Richards et al 2011;Fairbairn and Dawson 2013;Gillespie et al 2013;Richards et al 2013;Sutherland et al 2016). Elements of victim blaming (Berns 2001;Bullock and Cubert 2002;Richards et al 2011;Fairbairn and Dawson 2013) and perpetrator justification (Bullock and Cubert 2002;Fairbairn and Dawson 2013) have also been found.…”

“…This construction is made through the different types of coverage of IPV and intimate partner femicide (IPF) cases, namely thematic and episodic coverage. A thematic coverage frames the crime as part of a social issue and contextualizes the IPF as involving a pattern of IPV, while an episodic coverage presents the crime as an isolated event, «out of the blue», or motivated by a single, simple and/or individual cause (Bullock and Cubert 2002;Bullock 2008;Carlyle et al 2008;Beddoe 2013;Fairbairn and Dawson 2013;Gillespie et al 2013;Richards et al 2013;Wozniak and McCloskey 2010).…”

“…Most extant research has demonstrated that newspaper articles reporting IPV and IPF predominantly present an episodic coverage, instead of framing the crime as part of a social problem that requires social solutions (Bullock and Cubert 2002;Bullock 2008;Carlyle et al 2008;Wozniak and McCloskey 2010;Richards et al 2011;Fairbairn and Dawson 2013;Gillespie et al 2013;. However, most studies focus on American newspaper articles, namely from the United States of America (Bullock and Cubert 2002;Bullock 2008;Carlyle et al 2008;Wozniak and McCloskey 2010;Richards et al 2011;Gillespie et al 2013;Richards et al 2013), Canada (Fairbairn and Dawson 2013) and Argentina (Angélico et al 2014;Valdemarca and Bonavitta 2011). An example closer to us is a study from Spain that focused on another type of media, specifically television (Comas-d'Argemir 2014).…”

Narrativas mediáticas sobre o femicídio na intimidade: análise de um jornal popular português

“…A referência ao comportamento sexual promíscuo das mulheres é frequentemente associada à avaliação negativa das suas competências como mães e esposas (Pereyra 2001;Taylor 2008;Angélico et al 2014), assim como a não apresentação de denúncia, a retirada da queixa (quando tal é possível) ou a não colaboração com o sistema de justiça surgem como fatores de reforço da sua ineficácia na prevenção do femicídio (Richards et al 2011;Gillespie et al 2013).…”