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Covering Domestic Violence: How the O.J. Simpson Case Shaped Reporting of Domestic Violence in the News Media
Abstract
This article examines how the Simpson case affected newspaper coverage of domestic violence. We analyzed the frequency with which domestic violence was covered and the content of that coverage in the New York Times, the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. As expected, the number of non-Simpson domestic violence stories increased immediately after the event but declined in the majority of newspapers afterwards. The hypothesis that domestic violence story coverage would shift from incident focused to socially focused reporting was not generally supported. Social coverage was present across all domestic violence stories before the Simpson event, and with only minor variations, the overall coverage content did not change.
... Findings from numerous studies indicate that media coverage of IPV often presents inadequate, distorted representations of IPV that perpetuate misconceptions about victims, perpetrators, and causes of IPV (Bullock, 2007;Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Carll, 2003;Carlyle et al., 2008;Lamb, 1991). Although the medical community officially declared IPV a public health problem over 20 years ago (American Medical Association, 1992), current news coverage continues to portray IPV as an individual issue, often overlooking the powerful societal and cultural factors that contribute to the pervasiveness and public tolerance of IPV (Bems, 1999;Carll, 2003;Carlyle et al., 2008;Maxwell, Huxford, Borum, & Hornik, 2000). ...
... Given that news media coverage of IPV is almost exclusively presented using episodic frames, it is unsurprising that public perceptions of IPV as a personal problem involving only the perpetrator and the victim pervade, while important contextual factors are understated or ignored (Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Carlyle et al., 2008;Meyers, 1996). Moreover, research shows that media frames that encourage an individual perspective on IPV increase victim-blaming attitudes (Maxwell et al., 2000;Meyers, 1996), promote misconceptions about IPV victims and perpetrators (Bullock, 2007;Bullock & Cubert, 2002), and decrease feelings of personal and societal responsibility for providing help to victims or engaging in efforts to reduce or prevent IPV (Carll, 2003;Maxwell et al., 2000;Meyers, 1996). Importantly, feelings of personal responsibility represent a key variable for predicting participation in helping behaviors (Banyard, 2008;Banyard & Moynihan, 2011;Chaurand & Brauer, 2008;Latané & Darley, 1970). ...
... Given that news media coverage of IPV is almost exclusively presented using episodic frames, it is unsurprising that public perceptions of IPV as a personal problem involving only the perpetrator and the victim pervade, while important contextual factors are understated or ignored (Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Carlyle et al., 2008;Meyers, 1996). Moreover, research shows that media frames that encourage an individual perspective on IPV increase victim-blaming attitudes (Maxwell et al., 2000;Meyers, 1996), promote misconceptions about IPV victims and perpetrators (Bullock, 2007;Bullock & Cubert, 2002), and decrease feelings of personal and societal responsibility for providing help to victims or engaging in efforts to reduce or prevent IPV (Carll, 2003;Maxwell et al., 2000;Meyers, 1996). Importantly, feelings of personal responsibility represent a key variable for predicting participation in helping behaviors (Banyard, 2008;Banyard & Moynihan, 2011;Chaurand & Brauer, 2008;Latané & Darley, 1970). ...
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive and widespread problem in the United States, yet the issue is not well understood among the general public. Media portrayals of IPV have a significant influence on public perceptions, including public support for IPV victims and willingness to engage in helping behaviors. In the current study, we tested a path model examining the influence of contextual information about the victim and perpetrator described in a news article on feelings of sympathy for the victim of the described IPV incident, affective perspective taking, and prosocial responses that include: (a) support for public health initiatives to help victims of IPV, (b) preferences for prosocial information seeking, and (c) behavioral intentions toward engaging in protective actions to help victims of IPV. The model demonstrated acceptable fit and provided support for all 6 hypotheses. Results showed that sympathy does not have a direct impact on individuals' prosocial responses to help victims of IPV, but instead has an indirect effect through affective perspective taking. Implications for framing IPV in ways that promote a prosocial, public health–oriented response are discussed.
... de los estudios de género. A pesar de ello las aportaciones desde uno y otro campo no puede decirse que se caractericen por un desarrollo de creciente colaboración, como cabría esperar, sino más bien por una autonomía e ignorancia mutua considerables (entre las excepciones destacan: Schlesinger 1992, Altés 1998, Fagoaga 1999, Maxwell y otros 2000, Ghez 2001, Carter y Weaver, 2003. Los trabajos sobre violencia y medios apenas han indagado en la especificidad de la violencia de género mientras que los estudios de género suelen disolver el fenómeno de la violencia en la más amplia variable de la dominación masculina. ...
... A través de algunos de estos trabajos se ha observado la transformación que ha conocido el tema de la violencia de género en los medios de comunicación en los últimos años tanto desde el punto de vista cuantitativo como cualitativo. En su dimensión cuantitativa es evidente el aumento del número de noticias y programas dedicados a la violencia de género (Bueno Abad, 1996;Maxwell, 2000) y en su dimensión cualitativa el tratamiento periodístico dado al problema social se ha hecho más complejo y variado gracias, principalmente, al empuje recibido con casos como el de O. J. Simpson en los Estados Unidos (Maxwell, 2000) o el de Ana Orantes en España (Fagoaga, 1999). Los formatos con los que aparece la información sobre la violencia de género, los espacios donde aparece, los actores implicados y las formas discursivas usadas ya no son simplemente las derivadas del relato breve en la sección de sucesos del espacio informativo. ...
... A través de algunos de estos trabajos se ha observado la transformación que ha conocido el tema de la violencia de género en los medios de comunicación en los últimos años tanto desde el punto de vista cuantitativo como cualitativo. En su dimensión cuantitativa es evidente el aumento del número de noticias y programas dedicados a la violencia de género (Bueno Abad, 1996;Maxwell, 2000) y en su dimensión cualitativa el tratamiento periodístico dado al problema social se ha hecho más complejo y variado gracias, principalmente, al empuje recibido con casos como el de O. J. Simpson en los Estados Unidos (Maxwell, 2000) o el de Ana Orantes en España (Fagoaga, 1999). Los formatos con los que aparece la información sobre la violencia de género, los espacios donde aparece, los actores implicados y las formas discursivas usadas ya no son simplemente las derivadas del relato breve en la sección de sucesos del espacio informativo. ...
A few investigations have studied (none of them in Spain) the domes- tic gender violence news contents influence on the women in general and particularly on the women that have been victim of gender violence. Thanks to an economical support of the Institut Català de la Dona (Gene- ralitat de Catalunya) we could carry out a pilot research. We did four focus groups, two of them with women that never were victims of gender and the others with women victims of gender violence. The analysis of the data collected from the focus groups also opens other issues of research.
... 479). Maxwell, et al. (2000) also found that while the O.J. Simpson case increased coverage on cases of IPVAW, the stories presented them as isolated incidents, and made no connection to hegemonic social structures that allow violence against women. ...
... In covering IPVAW in Nigeria, these newspapers also blamed the victim and exonerated/excused the perpetrator. This corroborated previous studies' findings on IPVAW using framing theory (Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Maxwell et al. 2000;Evans, 2001;Gillespie, et al., 2013). The problem with this frame is it is powerfully linked to patriarchal beliefs about women as the property of men and pushes violence as an appropriate punishment for women whose behaviors are culturally inappropriate. ...
This article explores how three national newspapers cover the cases of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) in Nigeria from 2015 to 2017 to contribute to global research on mediated representations of violence against women. The study focuses on how Nigerian newspapers, The Guardian, Punch and Vanguard, reported the IPVAW cases from 2015 to 2017, and how they covered and framed IPVAW. Using quantitative content analysis, we found that the newspapers used episodic framing, blamed the victims, and exonerated/ excused the men’s actions. The implications of these findings are discussed.
... Victims are frequently blamed for the violence enacted against them, by suggestions or claims that they provoked the perpetrator through their words or actions, or by the implication that the nature of the relationship itself was to blame for the violence (Hawley et al., 2018;Kozol, 1995;Maxwell et al., 2000;Sutherland et al., 2019), although evidence exists that this is decreasing within the Australian news media (Easteal et al., 2021). The high incidence of male violence and the tendency to blame female victims for the violence enacted against them can "reinforce patriarchal gender norms," which minimizes the essential role that legislative shifts in power must play (Easteal et al., 2015). ...
... The examined newspaper articles revealed that media reporting across Australia in the last 20 years has frequently blurred the perpetrator-victim binary and does not always frame the direct victim of the violence as the person most affected by it. The status, experience, and impact of victimhood are frequently displaced from the primary victim of the violence, who is usually a female partner or ex-partner of the perpetrator, and onto a secondary direct or indirect victim, including children, bystanders, or animals (Hawley et al., 2018;Kozol, 1995;Maxwell et al., 2000;Sutherland et al., 2019). For example, in the article "Man jailed for domestic violence at its worst" published in The Canberra Times on October 17, 2019, the perpetrator threatened his partner with an axe if she did not enter his car, however, the emphasis in the article was largely on the associated threats to his children. ...
Newspaper media plays a significant role in forming a public understanding of domestic violence. This article analyses 554 articles from 24 newspapers across Australian states and territories published between 2000 and 2020 that describe specific instances of domestic violence. It examines whether such violence is framed as a systemic issue or as a collection of individual events, as well as how such representations of perpetrators and victims displace both "blame" and "victimhood." Although positive aspects of reporting can be observed, the tendency within newspaper articles to blur distinctions between perpetrators and victims distorts the true scale of domestic violence in Australia.
... Although there is growing interest in the field of media reporting on violence against women, most analyses have focused on high-profile cases (e.g., Hawley, Clifford, and Konkes 2018;Maxwell et al. 2000), looked at only one type of violence and/or one type of victim-offender relationship (e.g., Bullock 2007;Mason and Monckton-Smith 2008;Richards, Kirkland Gillespie, and Dwayne Smith 2011), or only on a very limited number of media outlets, both in numbers and geographical regions (but see Easteal, Holland, and Judd 2015;Morgan and Simons 2018). The study at hand focuses on all news reports on violence against women (irrespective of the type of violence or relationship between victim and perpetrator) with a broad sample of printed newspapers in Germany between 2015 and 2019, including national, regional, and tabloid outlets. ...
... As a result, especially intimate partner violence can be understood as a private matter, and as such, an issue inappropriate for governmental action and intervention. Studies from different cultural contexts and geographical regions show that media reporting on violence against women largely ignore such overarching social contexts and in most of the cases present violence as discrete incidents (Bou-Franch 2013; Bullock and Cubert 2002;Carlyle, Slater, and Chakroff 2008;Fairbairn and Dawson 2013;Halim and Meyers 2010;Karlsson et al. 2020;Maxwell et al. 2000;Owusu-Addo et al. 2018;Richards, Kirkland Gillespie, and Dwayne Smith 2011;Sutherland et al. 2019). ...
Violence against women is a prevalent issue worldwide, even in countries highly ranked on Gender Equality indices. Every third day, a woman in Germany is killed by an intimate partner, and many experience sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. How media report violence against women is significant for understanding the extent of violence in society and for requesting solutions in the public. This study analyzes the salience of violence and the nature of reporting in a broad sample of German print news (n = 3489) between 2015 and 2019 with a specific focus on intimate partner violence as opposed to crimes committed by strangers and the role of perpetrator origin. Results show that especially intimate partner violence is underreported and needs to be of extreme degree to be reported. Situating violence against women within a broader social context rarely happens, again, especially not for intimate partner violence. Since New Year’s Eve in Cologne, perpetrator’s origin has increasingly been mentioned. Although non-German perpetrators are not overrepresented in media reporting on violence against women, it is especially them, whose violence is put into a larger context. Opposed to that, national perpetrators’ violent acts are presented as single incidents.
... Bu dönemde kadınlara yönelik dergilerde, şiddete uğrayan mağduru suçlayan ve problemin çözümünde mağduru sorumlu tutan bir yaklaşım izlenmektedir. Gazetelerde şiddet haberleri verilirken, olayda failin sorumluluğunun azaltılarak verilmesinin desteklendiği gözlenmektedir (Maxwell, Huxford, Borum ve Hornik, 2000). Maxwell, Huxford, Borum ve Hornik (2000), yaptıkları bir gazete incelemesinde, gazete haberlerinde aile içi şiddet olaylarının verilmesinde mağdurun ya da failin bireysel olarak suçlandığını, şiddetin meydana gelmesine zemin hazırlayan sosyal faktörlerin görmezden gelindiğini göstermektedir. ...
... Gazetelerde şiddet haberleri verilirken, olayda failin sorumluluğunun azaltılarak verilmesinin desteklendiği gözlenmektedir (Maxwell, Huxford, Borum ve Hornik, 2000). Maxwell, Huxford, Borum ve Hornik (2000), yaptıkları bir gazete incelemesinde, gazete haberlerinde aile içi şiddet olaylarının verilmesinde mağdurun ya da failin bireysel olarak suçlandığını, şiddetin meydana gelmesine zemin hazırlayan sosyal faktörlerin görmezden gelindiğini göstermektedir. ...
This study is designed to investigate how news about violence towards women are approached by newspapers which have various reader mass and publication policies and to discover the differences between newspapers in the approach to violence towards women. All the news about violence against women were screened in the printed versions of the newspapers Birgün, Hürriyet, Yeni Şafak. Newspaper archives were reached from Istanbul Atatürk Library. The newspapers were chosen according to their publication policies and various reader mass. The number of the news about violence against women, photographs, headlines, adjectives used for the victims/perpetrators, informa-tions about victim's private life, affinity between victim and perpetrator etc. have been evaluated. Totally, 377 news contain 177 news from Birgün; 219 news from Hürriyet; 41 news from Yeni Şafak. It is seen that 73 % of victims are attacked by their intimate partners. 65.5% of the attacks have resulted in death while 21% of it have resulted in injuring and 13.5% of it have sexual characteristics. In 7.7 % of the attacks which were resulted in death, the victim had protection order. There are significant differences between newspapers in some criterias. These are relation between the photograph and news, characteristics of the photographs, consistency between the news and headlines, information about victim's private life. In this study, it is seen that the ways in presentation of the news about violence towards women differ according to the newspapers which have different publication policies. In this context, it is discussed that the ways in presentation of the news about violence towards women is influenced from culture; how these news are supposed to be presented; education of the people who work in press and prepare these news.
... While the responsibility of violent episodes within couples is generally placed on individuals (individual frame of responsibility)-i.e. perpetrators, victims or both (Exner & Thurston, 2009;Hernández, 2010;Maxwell & Huxford, 2000;Sellers, Desmarais & Tirotti, 2014;Berns, 1999)-two other frames emerged: the institutional frame of responsibility, which attributes the causes of IPV to the failure of the legal system and law enforcement to adequately protect potential victims (Berns, 1999), and the cultural/structural frame, which focuses on sociocultural factors (e.g. gender role socialization, patriarchal dominance, family structure and sexism) that contribute to the tolerance of ...
... involved, risk factors and consequences, and information regarding services and available resources allows the perception of the broader context of IPV, increases readers' awareness of the phenomena, provides useful information for the management of IPV and highlights the need for prevention strategies(Kettrey & Emery, 2010;Lee & Wong, 2019;Lindsay-Brisbin, Deprince, & Welton- Mitchell, 2014;Sims, 2008). Considering the studies included in the current review, although the adoption of a thematic framing is a well-established recommendation(Richards, Gillespie & Givens, 2014;Sutherland et al., 2016), irrespective of year or country of publication, most news articles analysed generally framed IPV episodically(Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Bullock, 2007;Bullock, 2008;Carlyle, 2008;Gillespie et al., 2013;Lee & Wong, 2019;Lindsay-Brisbin, Deprince, & Welton- Mitchell, 2014;Maxwell & Huxford, 2000; Richards, Gillespie, & Givens, 2014;Sela-Shayovitz, 2018;Sims, 2008;Smith, Bond, & Jeffries, 2019). ...
Introduction: Media representation of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) can influence public opinion and understanding of the phenomena, and guide health policies. The current review has the aim to explore and discuss international, scientific literature focused on the portrayal of IPV in written forms of news media.
Method: Searching through EBSCO and PubMed, 2435 studies were found and 41 were included in the current review.
Results: Bias in the portrayal of IPV was found within the studies included. While IPV-related news were mainly focused on male-perpetrated violence within heterosexual couples, little attention was paid to Same Sex Intimate Partner Violence (SSIPV). Newsworthy stories dominate IPV reporting within news media and a sensationalistic style was often employed. Furthermore, contextual information was often limited and the adoption of a thematic frame was rare, while news media were found to commonly employ an episodic frame. Official sources and family, friends and neighbours were the most quoted sources in news articles, while IPV experts were rarely drawn on for information. Regarding media representation of perpetrators, mainly regarding male abusers, news articles reported several reasons behind the violence with the consequence to justify and exonerate them from their responsibilities. Female perpetrators were found to be depicted, in some cases, as “mad” or “bad” people. Finally, victim blaming content emerged within many of the articles included.
Conclusion: Bias in the media representation of IPV emerged in the current review, which needs to be addressed to positively influence public opinion and to promote an adequate understanding of the phenomena.
... Violent media content refer to programs and information from the media that portray the intentional use of physical force with the potential for causing death, disability, injury, or harm (Eseadi, 2016). Examples include war movies, news reports of violence that is domestic, genderbased, religious, sexual, ethnic, and intimate, among others shown on television, in newspapers, and on the Internet and social networking sites (Eseadi, 2016;Maxwell, Huxford, Borum, & Hornik 2000;Ramasubramanian & Oliver, 2003;Taylor & Sorenson, 2002). Violent media content are viewed everywhere: homes, schools, workplaces, cafes, and malls (Anderson & Dill, 2000;Olson 2004). ...
... Strasburger (1995) stated that music lyrics and videos watched by adolescents have high levels of violence. Maxwell, Huxford, Borum and Hornik (2000) and Taylor and Sorenson (2002) noted that news coverage included violence. Ramasubramanian and Oliver (2003) contended that sexual violence was also being portrayed in the media. ...
Objective: This study empirically examined the relation between violent media content viewing and aggression among college students in Nigeria. Further, the study also examined the moderating roles of (1) gender and (2) parental mediation in the violent media and aggression relationship. Method: The study participants (N = 618) were senior secondary class two students in the Southeast Nigeria. Self-report questionnaires on violent media contents viewing and aggressive behavior were used to collect data. Bivariate correlations and regression analyses were conducted, among others. Results: Results indicated that violent media exposure explained a small amount of variability in aggressive behavior. Moreover, parental mediation, but not gender, significantly moderated the relation between violent media exposure and aggression. Conclusion: It is important that parents should be exposed to evidence-based practices in parenting of adolescents to equip them with proactive measures to curtail college students' access to violent media content without instigating parent-child conflict in the home.
... A durable news commodity ( Garofalo, 1981;Surette, 2010), people often get their first glimpse of local, state, and nationwide criminal events in the form of newspaper columns, magazine reports, and television shows (Sasson, 1995). Regarding intimate partner violence (IPV) and homicide (IPH), journalists routinely report these crimes as incident-specific outcomes of relationship conflict or other individual-level problems (Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Carlyle, Slater, & Chakroff, 2008;Maxwell, Huxford, Borum, & Hornik, 2000;Meyer & Post, in press). Crime reporting heavily relies on official sources, including feedback from law enforcement officials and attorneys (Bullock, 2008). ...
... Our results are consistent with previous findings that IPV is reported as incident-specific and the outcome of relationship problems. (Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Carlyle et al., 2008;Maxwell et al., 2000). In line with recommendations proposed by Carlyle, et al (2008), we must find a way to better reflect the social reality of IPV in the mass media. ...
... Furthermore, the construction of a problem can affect whether or not the public believes it is a social problem worthy of change (Loseke, 1999). Several studies have examined media framing of domestic violence, and all generally agree that women, the probable victims, are portrayed as being at fault for the violence (Berns, 1999;Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Consalvo, 1998;Maxwell et al., 2000;Meyers, 1994).Meyers (1997)suggests that the media encourage the continuation of IPV by maintaining the idea of male supremacy. Given the role media framing plays in how particular issues are constructed and understood, it is critical to investigate how the local media portray IPH and passion killings to the Batswana public. ...
... Stigma is entrenched in social myths and stereotypes, including the belief that IPV is the fault of the victim (Meyers, 1997). Because myths and stereotypes blame the victim for her death, they in turn make IPH less newsworthy, and hence less likely to be reported (Maxwell et al., 2000). In addition to victim blaming, the patriarchal gender role system found in Botswana likely represents a key reason why these crimes are so rarely covered. ...
In Botswana, local news media outlets have documented the prevalence of socalled 'passion killings'; however, no published studies have been conducted that examine these intimate partner homicides. Using ethnographic content analysis informed by a theory of framing, this study investigated the characteristics of these crimes, and societal attitudes, myths and stereotypes regarding intimate partner homicides and passion killings. Articles from four Batswana newspapers were analyzed. The information derived from this analysis is used to develop future directions for the study of intimate partner violence and homicides in Botswana.
... Scholars also turned their research attention to the field of domestic violence [3]. Maxwell et al. found that when the Simpson murder case occurred, the number of reports on domestic violence in traditional media increased significantly [4]. However, after the incident, the number of related reports returned to normal, so they believed that domestic violence incidents involving celebrities would significantly affect the number of reports on domestic violence issues in mainstream media at that time. ...
Domestic violence is a serious social issue that has a large number of negative impacts on individuals, families, and even society as a whole. This study investigates the basic situation of social media use by domestic violence victims, thereby providing media use experience for other vulnerable groups and contributing to the elimination of domestic violence. The issue of domestic violence has become a hot topic of social and public concern in recent years. Research on the relationship between domestic violence and the media can be divided into two categories: media reporting of domestic violence and the use of media by victims of domestic violence. This study takes victims of domestic violence as the research object and uses in-depth interview methods; and specific contents centre around their use of social media, such as seeking help and support, sharing personal experiences, raising public awareness, and finding a sense of belonging to the community. Through investigation, this article draws the following conclusions: The types of social media commonly used by victims of domestic violence can be divided into three categories: instant messaging, information acquisition, and information sharing. By studying the types of social media use for domestic violence victims, people can observe their situations and emotions and provide timely help.
... Это означает, что тематика домашнего насилия может вытесняться из публичного пространства другими актуальными темами или же, напротив, захватывать повестку дня. Особую роль в последнем играют «громкие истории»: например, в США дело о предполагаемом убийстве футболистом и актером О. Джей Симпсоном своей бывшей жены и ее приятеля привело к росту числа публикаций о домашнем насилии, которые никак не были связаны с этим делом [Maxwell et al., 2000]. ...
На протяжении последних десяти лет в публичном поле идут активные дискуссии о проблеме домашнего насилия в России. В 2017 г. побои в отношении близких родственников были декриминализованы, а закон о семейно-бытовом насилии так и не был принят, хотя неоднократно вносился в Государственную думу. Цель настоящей статьи — анализ контрриторических стратегий, которыми пользуются участники дискуссии, отрицающие наличие или важность проблемы насилия между интимными партнерами. На основе анализа более 1,4 тыс. публикаций о проблеме домашнего насилия в девяти ведущих печатных СМИ России за период с 2010 по 2020 г. мы выделяем и описываем шесть стратегий депроблематизации в соответствии с классификацией, предложенной П. Ибаррой и Дж. Китсьюзом. Кроме того, мы выделяем не попадающую в классификацию седьмую стратегию, делающую акцент на материальной компенсации за насилие. Мы анализируем роль акцента на патриархальных ценностях в каждой из выделенных стратегий, а также делаем выводы об их возможной связи с общественными мнением о данной проблеме.
Благодарность. Публикация подготовлена в ходе проведения исследовательского проекта «Безопасность и виктимность населения России: социальные, экономические и культурные факторы» № 21-04-029 (Научно-учебная группа «Социально-правовые исследования») в рамках Программы «Научный фонд Национального исследовательского университета “Высшая школа экономики” (НИУ ВШЭ)» в 2021-2022 гг. Авторы выражают признательность Регине Игоревне Решетеевой за совместную работу в рамках научно-учебной группы над первым этапом данного проекта.
... Much of the research on media framing of IPV has focused on newspaper reports and participant responses to composite newspaper reports (Bullock, 2010;Bullock & Cubert, 2002;Ryan et al., 2006;Savage, Scarduzio, Harris, Carlyle, & Sheff, 2017;Scarduzio et al., 2017). Most newspaper coverage minimizes the perpetrator's responsibility-who is usually a man (Maxwell et al., 2000)-and reinforces arguments about the gender symmetry debate (Johnson et al., 2016;Yoshihama et al., 2020). Many media stories "posit IPV as the (female) victim's responsibility, rarely discuss the (male) perpetrator, and when they do, offer explanations that do not hold him accountable" (Pepin, 2016, p. 124). ...
This study examined how participants responded to incidents of athlete-perpetrated intimate partner violence in two separate contexts: one featuring an athlete from a league that is at peak popularity among sports audiences (National Football League; NFL) and one featuring an athlete from an up-and-coming league that currently has a lower standing in professional sports (Ultimate Fighting Championship League; UFC). The authors used the social ecological model to qualitatively analyze participant perceptions about athlete-perpetrated intimate partner violence composite news packages. For the purpose of this study specifically, they centered on 1,124 responses to one of the open-ended qualitative questions asked in a larger quantitative experiment. The authors found that the participants most frequently attributed the perpetrator’s behavior to either individual or relationship-level reasons and that there were differences in the level attributed for participants of different races and ethnicities. They also determined that the participants were more likely to ascribe the violence to the suspect’s job (i.e., athlete) if they were a UFC fighter than an NFL player. Theoretical extensions of the social ecological model and practical implications for journalists, the media, and fans are offered.
... Literatur-literatur kontemporer yang membahas tentang representasi kekerasan terhadap perempuan menjelaskan bahwa media massa ketika memberitakan kekerasan terhadap perempuan cenderung menggunakan format pelaporan berbasis kejadian atau peristiwa, atau dengan kata lain menggunakan model pembingkaian episodik (Bou-Franch, 2013;Halim & Meyers, 2010;Marhia, 2008;Maxwell, Huxford, Borum & Hornik, 2000;McManus & Dorfman, 2005;Sims, 2008 (Gross, 2008). ...
... For example, Strasburger (1995) stated that music lyrics and videos watched by adolescents have high levels of violence. Maxwell, Huxford, Borum and Hornik (2000) and Taylor and Sorenson (2002) observed that media reportage featured intimate partner violence. Sargent, Heatherton, Ahrens, Dalton, Tickle and Beach (2002) reported a high level of severe violence in movies watched by adolescents. ...
This study, through a correlational survey of 603 adolescent students in Onitsha Education Zone of Anambra State, Nigeria, aimed to find out if parental mediation is a moderator of the relationship between violent media contents exposure and aggressive behaviour. The researchers used Violent Media Contents Questionnaire and In-School Adolescents’ Aggressive Behaviour Questionnaire for data collection. To analyze the data collected, the researchers used Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and simple linear regression statistics. Results showed that the extent to which parental mediation moderates the relationship between violent media contents exposure and aggressive behaviour among in-school adolescents was very high. It was also found that parental mediation significantly moderates the relationship between violent media contents exposure and aggressive behaviour among in-school adolescents. Therefore, parents could play an active role in managing and regulating in-school adolescents' media contents consumption and invariably influence the extent they display aggressive behaviour.
... Despite growing interest in analysing media portrayals of violence against women, much of the research to date has exclusively focused on news coverage of high-profile stories [24][25][26][27] or retrospectively selected new stories about one type of violence only, most often homicide [15,16,[28][29][30]. Prior research is also dominated by media analyses of newspaper reporting [31]. ...
Background
How the mainstream news media report violence against women is significant if levels of violence are to be reduced and ultimately eliminated. Media reporting is an important indicator through which to measure progress towards shifting social and cultural norms that reinforce or challenge the place of violence against women in our society. The current study, therefore, aimed to establish a baseline picture of the extent and nature of reporting of violence against women by the mainstream Australian news media.
Methods
Descriptive and content analysis of media reports on violence against women that were collected over four months in three states of Australia. Reports were from newspapers, broadcast (television and radio) and online news sites.
Results
Coverage of violence against women in the mainstream news media was extensive. Explicitly situating violent experiences for women within a broader social context was infrequent. Few news reports included information for women on where to seek help. Additionally, news reports rarely elevated the voices of survivors, advocates and other experts, with a disproportionate emphasis on law enforcement, political and criminal justice perspectives.
Conclusions
Despite readiness among journalists and readers to engage in news about violence against women, reporting that promotes public understanding of the issue is not always the norm.
... Simões (2014, pp. 34-35) Apesar da violência doméstica e da violência contra as mulheres em geral não ser um fenômeno novo, a extensão de sua percepção como um problema de domínio público varia com o tempo ea cobertura midiática é um dos principais fatores que influenciam tal variação (Maxwell et al., 2000). ...
Resumo: O essencialismo biológico e o androcentrismo são ainda estruturais nas sociedades contemporâneas aonde persistem várias formas de desigualdade entre homens e mulheres, assim como vários tipos de violência contra as mulheres. No cenário brasileiro, a cada cinco minutos uma mulher é agredida, vítima de violência doméstica (Waiselfisz, 2012). No Rio Grande do Norte, houve um crescimento de quase 100% das taxas de homicídio de mulheres entre 2006 e 2013, sendo o segundo pior estado brasileiro neste ranking (Waiselfisz, 2015). Entre outras problemáticas que urge questionar atualmente, situamos o debate, por um lado, em torno do papel e da importância que tem tido a mídia na revelação destes fenômenos, assim contribuindo para elevar o grau de reflexividade dos sujeitos sociais acerca desta problemática, e por outro, na sua desconstrução efetiva, contribuindo para a mudança de comportamentos e atitudes. Assim, fazendo uma análise à cobertura jornalística dos casos de violência contra as mulheres presentes no jornal Tribuna do Norte desde a Lei Maria da Penha até à atualidade, procuramos evidenciar a tipologia de casos relatados, assim como o sentido e os significados construídos no próprio processo discursivo de narração e, por vezes, de espetacularização característica nestas situações. Contamos com o alinhamento teórico diverso, nomeadamente a partir das análises de gênero e mídia e outros relacionados com a construção social da desigualdade e discriminação. Palavras-chave: Violência contra as mulheres.Mídia. Evolução Legislativa. Cobertura Jornalística. Rio Grande do Norte. Introdução Diariamente milhares de pessoas, de todos os continentes, sofrem algum tipo de violência. Isto se acentua se pensamos em grupos quese mantiveram por séculos subordinados e/ou vulneráveis a outros grupos dominantes. Afirmam Bandeira e Batista que "Até há pouco, bater em mulheres, negros e homossexuais [...] era uma prática corriqueira, mas despercebida como uma forma de violência na sociedade. Os alvos da violência escondiam-se no próprio sofrimento sem poder nomeá-lo, denunciá-lo ou compreendê-lo" (2002, pp. 119-120).Hermes expõe que o preconceito tem definido o direcionamento da violência ao longo dos séculos "de um determinado grupo maior sobre os pequenos grupos, com a formação desse grupo abrangendo diversos espectros dessa cadeia de mortes e agressões, como a etnia, a religião, os times de futebol e o gênero" (2015, p. 14). O século XX foi marcado por profundas transformações ambientais, econômicas, tecnológicas, sociaise culturais, mas este tipo de violência, profundamente relacionado com os costumes e a cultura, ainda permanece comum no século XXI. Hobsbawn (1988 apud Araújo, 2013, p. 14) defende que a cultura se (re)territorializa por meio da circulação das pessoas pelo mundo. Wieviorka (2006 apud Araújo, 2013, p. 15) aponta que com o processo e circulação global de
... In terms of violence against women, my deeper political concerns are with the role of media representation of male dominance in reaffirming a gender binary as a way of knowing, and tacitly approving of, certain heteronormative performances of masculinity and femininity (Carter, Branston and Allan 1998;Connell 2016;Cover 2014;Jermyn 2001). This binary tends to encourage the reduction of violence against women to perceiving it as only the overt physical aggression that leads to its 'law and order' relationship to culture (Maxwell, Huxford, Borum and Hornik 2000). It risks leaving under-examined the notions of authority and control that are not only part of the local cultural terrain in Australian gender relations (namely male-female heteronormativity) but also privately articulated as forms of masculine domination that contribute to often lethal violence. ...
In Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics Vol. 14, No 4, 2017.
The murders of Allison Baden-Clay and Jill Meagher and the drug-related death of Dianne Brimble proved to be three of Australia’s biggest news events, offering more than their value as sensational ‘true crime’ stories. Key texts that report and interpret criminal procedures following the women’s deaths reflect some of the cultural conditions for public interest in violence against women.
... As stated earlier, how gender violence is framed has its own implications on how the issue is perceived by the public. In their study of media coverage of intimate partner violence, (Maxwell et al., 2000in Carlyle et al. 2008 found that "most articles were framed in a way that left the victim responsible for ending the violence in the relationship." Furthermore, they found out that the reports mostly neglect social factors perpetuating violence. ...
... Social context: One of the key themes identified in our review was that media reports of violence against women were highly skewed towards event-based reporting or "episodic framing" (Bou-Franch, 2013;Halim & Meyers, 2010;Marhia, 2008;Maxwell, Huxford, Borum & Hornik, 2000;McManus & Dorfman, 2005;Sims, 2008). These are news reports that focus primarily on discrete incidents or events located at specific places and times while largely ignoring the overarching social context in which violence against women occurs. ...
Violence against women is a global public health problem. There is growing international interest in how to prevent this pervasive human rights violation. It is within this context that the media – a dominant force in shaping the discourse on matters of public importance – is seen to play a crucial role. This paper considers the expanding body of evidence concerning portrayals of violence against women in the news media. We then review the content of a selection of international media reporting guidelines developed to address such concerns. We demonstrate that despite similarities in content, much less is known about processes by which the guidelines have been developed and disseminated. There is only one study in the peer-reviewed literature examining the impact of media reporting guidelines on journalism practice. In the light of the dearth of research and evaluation activities, we consider issues around future efforts in this area.
... T he appearance of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in the news is a growing trend in a number of countries, mainly due to the social alarm caused by certain cases of death by IPV. [1][2][3][4] In the 4th World Conference on Women organised by the United Nations in 1995, the ability of the media to help raise public awareness on this issue was highlighted, as well as the need to make journalists aware of the responsibility they must assume in order to combat models of violent behaviour. More than 10 years on, there are still very few initiatives aimed at improving the way the media deals with IPV. ...
Background: This study has been carried out in order to explore the effect of the growing appearance of IPV in television news items on deaths by this cause. Methods: Ecological study based on 340 deaths by intimate partner violence (IPV) and 3733 television news items covering this topic on Spanish television channels (2003 and 2007). Logistic regression analysis was carried out. Dependent variable: the difference between the number of IPV deaths in the 7 days following a news item broadcast and the number of IPV deaths in the 7 days before a media item. This outcome variable was conceptualised as a binary variable: increase vs. no increase. Independent variables: days with IPV news items— in general, concerning deaths, measures or other IPV crimes. Adjusted variables: day of the week, month, year and public holidays. Results: A small copycat effect was observed in the IPV murder rate (RR = 1.32, CI 95% = 1.07 À 1.62) for IPV-related news item days compared with days without such news. This effect continued when information about deaths was broadcast (RR = 1.28, CI 95% = 1.01 À 1.62). News items concerning measures (RR = 0.90, CI 95% = 0.82 À 0.98) or other IPV crimes (0.84, CI 95% = 0.82 À 0.98) were related to a lower possibility of an increase in deaths compared with days with death-related news. Conclusion: Given the results observed in the case of IPV-related news, there is an evident need to develop a journalistic style guide in order to determine what type of information is recommended due to the potential positive or negative effects.
... Kitle iletişim araçları özellikle televizyon ve gazeteler suç ve şiddet olayları hakkında primer bilgi kaynağı olup, toplumun fikirlerini ve algısını etkilemede ve sosyal bakış açısının oluşmasında önemli bir role sahiptir (Wozniak ve McCloskey 2010). Maxwell ve arkadaşları (2000) kadın cinayetlerinin medyada yer almasının yakın eş şiddetinin sosyal bir konu olarak algılanmasında önemli bir role sahip olduğunu belirtmiştir. Bu açıdan bakıldığında kadına yönelik şiddet ve kadın cinayetleri haberlerinin medyada nasıl yer aldığı önem kazanmaktadır. ...
Investigating homicide reported in the newspaper
In the study, it was aimed at drawing attention to both the increasing number of homicie and the importance of media to create social awareness among health care professions in this respect. Homicide reported in the official website of the news archive 2014 of the first three most widely read online newspaper in Turkey (Zaman, Posta and Hürriyet) were examined. In the Zaman, Posta ve Hürriyet newspaper, 38, 59 and 43 homicide / attempted murder related news was published in 2014, respectively. It was determined that the events reported in the newspapers mostly were held in Istanbul, Izmir, Adana, and Bursa. In these three newspaper, among the cases with a known motive, the highest proportion of the motives for homicide/ attempted murder were 'divorce or wants to divorce' (18.5 %, 27.1 % ve 27.9 % in three newspaper, respectively), and the perpetrators were the victim's spouse / ex-spouse or boyfriend (respectively 89.5 %, 93.2 %, 81.5 %). Femicides committed in different cities and regions of Turkey is not sufficiently addressed in the newspaper. It is important how the femicide news takes place, and how it is reflected in the newspaper to increase social awareness on this topic as well as taking place the femicides in the newspapers. As health care professions, it would be beneficial to collobrate with journalist and news programme producer to increase social awareness in this respect.
Keywords: Awareness; homicide; femicide; newspaper.
... In studies of news reporting in print journalism reporters were found to have used both direct and indirect victim blaming tactics in their coverage (Anastasio & Costa, 2004; Bullock & Cubert, 2002; Bullock, 2007; Richards, Kirkland Gillespie, & Dwayne Smith, 2011; R. Taylor, 2009), and a statewide intervention education efforts was discovered to change reporter coverage of partner violence (Ryan, Anastario, & DaCunha, 2006). Researchers also looked at how the O.J. Simpson trial effected reporting of partner violence (Maxwell & Huxford, 2000), finding the while reporting on non-Simpson related partner violence increased immediately post-trial the increase did not last, although reporting about help services for victims remained higher than pre-trial. ...
This dissertation is a qualitative study examining the behavior of the main characters in the novels in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga as those behaviors compare to behavior listed in warnings about partner violence. The study found specific behaviors of those fictional characters matching those recognized as behaviors of partner violence in all four novels in the series, including behaviors that are illegal. The commercial success and popularity of the novels, aimed at the young adult reader market, suggests broad social acceptance of the characters’ behaviors in romantic pursuit. Despite over 30 years of anti-violence work, this research suggests that behaviors are socially well accepted as both indicators of romantic attachment and of partner violence, depending on context rather than behavior. The study demonstrates the fluidity of how behaviors are defined as partner violence, or not. These findings also suggest strategies for social work education, practice and research.
... Between June and July 1994 just a er the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, domestic violence coverage increased to 54 network news stories and 454 print stories, and continued through the end of the murder trial (Klein et al., 1997, p. 95). During the trial, newspaper coverage of domestic violence focused on the individual victim and perpetrator rather than the larger social problem of which individual cases of domestic violence are a part (Maxwell, Huxford, Borum, & Hornik, 2000). Media attention also spread to magazines like Men's Health, Self, People Magazine, and Emerge, where stories focused more directly on how to prevent domestic violence from a movement-sourced perspective. ...
Feminist activists in the 1990s used fax machines to disseminate crucial resources for media activism against domestic violence. This article analyzes how a particular feminist organization, with the help of a public relations agency, sought to transform media coverage of domestic violence by building a feminist media infrastructure that linked organizations across the United States through newsletter distribution, illuminating the constitutive relationship among social movement organizations, networking capabilities, and activist media process at that time. To evaluate this relationship, the study focuses on the specific media strategies feminists developed to respond to the high-profile O. J. Simpson gender violence case and its race-based dimensions, and to the antifeminist backlash upsurge in the 1990s.
... Solomon and Subramanian (1999) revealed from content analysis of advertisements in magazines namely 'Life' and 'Ebony' that the increase in ads that featured elderly people advertising aging associated items was considerable with a 7 per cent increase in 'Ebony' and a 1 per cent in 'Life' as compared to previous study conducted in last decade. Maxwell et al. (2000) conducted a study with detailed content analysis of national newspaper coverage of domestic violence. It showed that most coverage of domestic violence incidents focuses blamed on the individual victim and abuser, while ignoring social factors that perpetuate violence. ...
... This study's findings should be understood within the context of its limitations. First, some research suggests that high-profile cases may result in several of the articles covering the same event (Carlyle et al., 2008); however, other studies have found that such cases do not substantially affect the nature of the coverage (Maxwell, Huxford, Borum, & Hornik, 2000). In an effort to address this limitation, we eliminated any duplicate reports from the sample, but high-status cases, such as the Rihanna and Chris Brown case may nonetheless have increased the attention given to IPV in newsprint media during the study period (Taylor, 2009). ...
This article investigates the content and framing of newspaper articles reporting male- and female-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV). There were 173 newspaper articles coded for IPV severity, typology, and framing. Print news coverage of female-perpetrated IPV was limited; however, when reported, cases of female-perpetrated IPV were more severe, more likely to be described as perpetrated in self-defense, and less likely to be framed in terms of individual factors. For both male and female perpetrators, incidents of IPV were overwhelmingly framed as a private matter, whereas larger societal and cultural factors were rarely discussed. We discuss implications and make recommendations for broadening print media coverage of IPV to include the broader institutional, societal, and cultural causes of IPV rather than focusing primarily on individual factors.
... Women's Syndrome, published in 1984 brought the plight of abused women to the public's attention. A decade later, the passing of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 followed by the arrest (and subsequent acquittal) of O.J. Simpson in the murder of his wife, as well as the temporary removal of his children, also helped raise public awareness of family violence in the United States (Maxwell, Huxford, Borum, & Hornik, 2000), and its devastating effects on families and children of all social classes. ...
Cognitive behavioral violence prevention (CB-VP) parenting groups are commonly used for the primary and secondary prevention of violence. These groups use persuasive messages that target violence-related attitudes and cognitions, with the expectation that this will result in behavior change. Despite their frequent use as family violence prevention strategies, little is known about the actual messages being exchanged in CB-VP groups and how participants perceive and recall these messages. This study analyzes messages aimed at changing behaviors as recalled by Hispanic participants in federally funded Fatherhood groups in Miami, Florida. Applying concepts from violence prevention, behavior change messages were classified by topic, type of behavior targeted, compliance gaining strategies (Marwell & Schmitt, 1967), and sources of influence Wheeless, Baraclough & Stewart, 1983). The most common topics reported by participants included parenting role, discipline, communication content and spending time with children. Over a third of the appeals targeted behaviors that were not observable actions, but rather cognitive acts such as thinking, reflecting, and paying attention. Reward and punishment were the most frequently used compliance gaining strategies, followed by moral and expertise strategies. Most appeals were based on the expected outcomes of the proposed behaviors as the main source of influence. The results of this study provide a greater understanding of the motivations used to support behavior change messages in violence prevention parenting groups.
The two-decade-long US occupation of Afghanistan, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, finally ending with the withdrawal of the US forces on August 31, 2021. The ensuing political, social and economic chaos for Afghanistan continues to reverberate throughout Pakistan as well. Several journalists have lost their lives while covering ‘combating operations’ against terrorist organizations. The missions of secret agencies, target killings, insurgencies created by Taliban militants in the north, Baloch separatists’ movements in the south, and ‘disrupted law and order’ are some of the great threats faced by the media professionals while rending their professional assignments. By and large, Pakistan’s mainstream print and electronic media have covered the government’s National Action Plan to mount an ongoing anti-terrorist offensive with a positive tone. Extensive research has been carried out with regards to the image of Pakistan in the realm of terrorism in its national media.
Background: The news coverage of domestic violence survivors who lethally defend themselves is often negative and promotes misconceptions. The trials of Nicole Doucet, who tried to hire a hitman to kill her abusive husband, provides an opportunity to assess if tone of the coverage changed over time.
Analysis: News coverage of the Ryan case started neutral or favourable to Doucet and included feminist legal analysis. Interjections by Michael Ryan and the RCMP shifted the coverage to use more men’s rights arguments and negatively portray Doucet.
Conclusion and implications: Canadian newspapers demonstrated, in equal measure, a better grasp of women’s defensive violence and a susceptibility to be swayed by men’s rights arguments.
While staying at home is crucial for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, there is concern that such public health measures may increase the risk for child maltreatment (CM). Using a qualitative content analysis of news coverage and a quantitative survey (N = 250) of media consumers, this study explored the framing of CM as an issue during COVID-19, as well as audience recall and perceived efficacy to prevent maltreatment. Findings from the content analysis indicate that domestic violence and CM are frequently discussed together, and that less frequent interaction with mandatory reporters during the pandemic was often cited as a problem. Survey results suggest that social media and public service announcements are more important compared to news media for increasing audience perceptions of salience and efficacy around CM during a pandemic. Implications for studying media coverage of intertwined public health issues, like a pandemic and CM, are discussed.
A violência contra as mulheres é considerada uma das mais graves e marcantes formas de violência a serem enfrentadas pela sociedade contemporânea, pois ignora fronteiras, princípios e leis (Cavalcanti, 2005). Fenômeno antigo, multifacetado e produto de construção histórica (Pinafi, 2007), é uma grave violação dos direitos das mulheres e, por conseguinte, dos direitos humanos. As leis brasileiras e portuguesas, influenciadas por documentos internacionais, colocam-na precisamente como uma questão de direitos humanos. Neste artigo apresentamos um estudo exploratório sobre Brasil e Portugal que tem como principal objetivo compreender como os meios de comunicação social tratam a violência contra as mulheres, nomeadamente no que concerne a casos de figuras públicas. Para isso, analisamos notícias dos dois países, sublinhando o caráter transnacional e comparativo do estudo, o qual se foca em realidades de diferentes continentes e cujos índices de violência contra as mulheres estão em patamares distintos. Foi escolhido um caso de violência com destaque midiático em cada país nos últimos dez anos, nos quais a vítima sobreviveu às agressões e cujas partes envolvidas são pessoas públicas. Neste estudo foi aplicada uma análise de conteúdo das notícias. Os resultados permitem concluir que este tipo de violência não é tratado como uma violação dos direitos humanos pelos meios de comunicação e que, majoritariamente, são apresentados como casos específicos e isolados, sem conexão com outros casos de violência contra as mulheres.
La consolidación de la violencia de género como un tema de debate recurrente en nuestra escena política solo ha sido posible gracias a la concienciación y movilización de varios actores sociales. En especial, los medios de comunicación han jugado un papel decisivo a la hora de exteriorizar un problema social, que hasta hace poco gozaba de escasa visibilidad dentro del debate público y político. Inspirados por el fenómeno de la agenda setting, el primer objetivo de nuestro artículo es analizar la influencia de los medios de comunicación en el proceso de definición de la violencia de género como un problema social. La hipótesis básica de nuestro trabajo sostiene que la percepción que tiene la opinión pública de la violencia de género como un problema social está determinada por su cobertura mediática y no por las estadísticas criminales del fenómeno. En relación con esta primera hipótesis, nuestro segundo objetivo es identificar aquellos factores que más incidencia han tenido en la construcción de la agenda mediática de la violencia de género (agenda building), con especial atención a la influencia de los dos principales partidos políticos de nuestro país.
Within the past decade, the use of self-defense as defined under Stand Your Ground laws has been the subject of political and legal scrutiny. According to the American Bar Association (2015), twenty-three states have passed Stand Your Ground laws that eliminate the duty to retreat prior to using force in any place that an individual has the right to be. In addition, ten states allow individuals to use or threaten to use force in public or private spaces where they have a right to be under case law (not formal statute) but maintain stricter requirements for how self-defense must be proven in criminal proceedings. Several high-profile cases have served as catalysts for human rights organizations, civil rights activists, and politicians to question the necessity of Stand Your Ground laws, and these cases have also introduced the possibility that individuals who have traditionally been disenfranchised within the criminal justice system based upon race, class, and gender continue to be limitedly protected under this more "expansive" legislation. Where the limitations of these laws are becoming increasingly evident is with cases of intimate partner violence. However, there has not been any empirical investigation regarding how Stand Your Ground laws apply to intimate partner violence, and this is the case despite critical evaluations demonstrating self-defense law to be primarily androcentric in language and intent. This bias has been codified into Stand Your Ground laws, where intimate partner violence victims are required under Castle Law to have a protection order issued by the court to prove reasonable fear against their partner who may have a moral or legal right to the same property where the violence occurs.
The current study was designed to address this limitation in the research, and to provide the first known evidence of how statutory Stand Your Ground laws are being applied to cases of self-defense that involve intimate partners. Information was gathered through three key analyses: (1) a content analysis of Stand Your Ground statutes; (2) a content analysis of criminal and appellate court cases; (3) a content analysis of newspaper coverage of these criminal and appellate cases. The results of these analyses demonstrate that there are more legal restrictions than protections for intimate partner violence victims; that there are gender disparities in sentencing outcomes that do not favor women who are victims of intimate partner violence; and that the media tends to use victim blame tactics that have clear implications based upon the gender and race of intimate partner violence victims. The results of this study offer much needed evidence of fundamental problems with contemporary Stand Your Ground laws that continue to condemn intimate partner violence victims, and are also used to make recommendations for how Stand Your Ground laws can be modified to offer unbiased legal protection to victims of intimate partner violence who experience a long-term cycle of abuse.
This article examines the media coverage of violence against women in the
family and in an intimate partner relationship in Serbia. The goal of this
article is to point to the potential that implementing the relevant state
policies might have on the quality of the media coverage, by analysing the
effects of state policies on the media coverage of violence against women in
the family and in an intimate partner relationship. This study utilizes
quantitative content analysis and qualitative framing analysis on a sample of
330 articles of Serbian daily newspapers Blic, Kurir and Politika in two time
periods (three months in 2006 and three months in 2013). The results of the
quantitative content analysis show a significant increase in the number of
articles containing information on statistics, services for victims and
expert sources. Qualitative framing analysis points to the conclusion that
the nature of the media frame has not meaningfully changed. Namely, under the
pressure of editors, journalists continue with framing violence against women
in a stereotyped fashion which reflects the suppressed position of women in
the Serbian society.
The attacks of 9/11 led to a war on Iraq, although there was neither tangible evidence that Saddam Hussein was linked to Osama bin Laden nor proof of weapons of mass destruction. Why, then, did the Iraq war garner so much acceptance in the United States during its primary stages? Mass Deception argues that the George W. Bush administration manufactured public support for the war on Iraq, introducing a unique, integrated, and interdisciplinary theory called "critical communication" to explain how and why political elites and the news media periodically create public panics that benefit both parties.
Portrayals of celebrities perpetrating Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) are ideal for understanding the association between gender and racial privilege in representations of social problems. Unlike prior scholarship on framing of IPV, with celebrity perpetrators, race can be analyzed as an important aspect. Using 330 news articles about 66 celebrities, I find patterns of reporting consistent with male privilege that sanctions men’s violence against women, whereas the differential treatment of Black men fosters a racialized interpretation that pathologizes Black men. Black men's IPV is more often criminalized, with criminal imagery included 3 times more often in articles about Black celebrities than White celebrities. By presenting violence as an escalation of mutual conflict and excusing it due to mitigating circumstances, such as inebriation, White men's violence is justified 2½ times more often than Black men's IPV. These findings contribute to sociological understandings of racial privilege in the social construction of IPV. 2016
Scholarly engagement with the magazine form has, in the last two decades, produced a substantial amount of valuable research. Authored by leading academic authorities in the study of magazines, the chapters in The Routledge Handbook of Magazine Research not only create an architecture to organize and archive the developing field of magazine research, but also suggest new avenues of future investigation. Each of 33 chapters surveys the last 20 years of scholarship in its subject area, identifying the major research themes, theoretical developments and interpretive breakthroughs. Exploration of the digital challenges and opportunities which currently face the magazine world are woven throughout, offering readers a deeper understanding of the magazine form, as well as of the sociocultural realities it both mirrors and influences. The book includes six sections: Methodologies and structures presents theories and models for magazine research in an evolving, global context. Magazine publishing: the people and the work introduces the roles and practices of those involved in the editorial and business sides of magazine publishing. Magazines as textual communication surveys the field of contemporary magazines across a range of theoretical perspectives, subjects, genre and format questions. Magazines as visual communication explores cover design, photography, illustrations and interactivity. Pedagogical and curricular perspectives offers insights on undergraduate and graduate teaching topics in magazine research. The future of the magazine form speculates on the changing nature of magazine research via its environmental effects, audience, and transforming platforms.
This study examined how mainstream and black press newspapers framed thephenomena of “racial profiling” three years before and three years after the September 11terrorist attacks. It looked particularly at frames, ethnic groups, source selection andarticle emphasis. Results indicate that even in the face of a tragedy, black press reportersdid not waiver in their position and continued to cover issues from a “black perspective.”On the other hand, mainstream newspapers altered their coverage during the high-stressperiod and began to portray racial profiling as an anti-Arab/terrorist tactic that isacceptable in some cases. This study helps answer the question of whether black pressnewspapers are necessary in today’s society. The answer is yes. They still carry a uniqueviewpoint. Until the gap that divides African American and other readers ceases to exist,the black press will remain an important staple in the black community
This study examines Weiner's attribution-emotion-action model using news stories derived from existent media messages about intimate partner violence containing information designed to increase or decrease attributions of responsibility both toward the perpetrator and toward the victim. Participants (N=251) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, exposed to a stimulus message, then completed a survey. The attribution-emotion-action model was largely supported. Although multiple emotions were experienced, only certain emotions were significant in determining punishment preference, and these emotions varied by target (i.e., perpetrator or victim). How news stories may be influencing public opinion and support for public health and criminal justice policies is discussed.
Although violence by intimate partners has decreased in the past decade, it is still a problem affecting many women. For instance, IPV accounted for 22% of violent crimes against women between 1993 and 1998 (NCVS). The paucity of research evaluating the effectiveness of primary prevention strategies to reduce IPV has been recognized in various reports on intimate partner violence. Experts have suggested that public awareness campaigns would be helpful both to inform abused women about strategies for getting help, and to potentially change pub-Address correspondence to Jacquelyn C. Campbell, PhD, RN, Johns Hopkins University, School of Nursing, 525 North Wolfe Street, Room 436, Baltimore, MD21205. lic attitudes and norms about IPV. This article reviews published research available on public education campaigns regarding intimate partner violence, as well as education campaigns conducted for other issues, in order to better understand the potential for success and the limitations of this type of intervention.
Preventing intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health priority. An important component of designing prevention programs is developing an understanding of how media portrayals of health issues influence public opinion and policy. To better understand the ways in which media images may be informing our understanding of IPV, this study content analyzed portrayals of IPV in news media articles. Stratified media outlets were used to obtain a representative sample of daily newspapers based on their designated market areas. Researchers created constructed months using weeks from each season across a 2-year period. The first part of the study investigated quantitative differences in the coverage of female and male perpetrators (n = 395) and identified several areas where coverage differed. The second part of the study qualitatively examined coverage of female perpetrators (n = 61) to provide a richer description of such coverage. This study contributes to our understanding of female perpetrators and how these portrayals may contribute to the larger gender symmetry debate surrounding female aggressors. Implications for public health policy and research are discussed.
The present study is a content analysis of crime news to determine how femicide victims are portrayed by a Florida metropolitan newspaper. The analysis consisted of 292 domestic homicide-related articles published by one newspaper from 1995 to 2000. The data were analyzed to determine effects on newsworthiness, context revealed, and patterns of victim blame. A dichotomy concerning victim blame emerged from the analysis, suggesting victims are blamed directly and indirectly for their own femicides. Direct tactics include using negative language to describe the victim, highlighting her choices not to report past incidences, and portraying her actions with other men as contributing to her murder. Indirect tactics include using sympathetic language to describe the perpetrator; emphasizing the perpetrator's mental, physical, emotional, and financial problems; highlighting the victim's mental or physical problems; and describing domestic violence in terms that assign equal blame to both partners.
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.
A study of network news in 2004 found reporting about high-profile crimes (Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Scott Peterson, and Martha Stewart) differed from reporting in other significant stories. Morning network news carried the bulk (84%) of high-profile crime stories that were broadcast on network news. The morning high-profile crime stories had more transparent sources compared to other significant stories and were more likely to have only one viewpoint and contain anonymous sources. These results suggest that TV sensationalism should be defined and studied for reporting standards, and not just for topic and treatment.
Collateral intimate partner homicide (CIPH) is an underinvestigated genre of intimate partner violence (IPV) where an individual(s) connected to the IPV victim is murdered. We conducted a content analysis of a statewide database of CIPH newspaper articles (1990-2007). Out of 111 collateral murder victims, there were 84 IPV female focal victims and 84 male perpetrators. The most frequently reported CIPH decedent was the focal victim’s new partner (30%); 45% of focal victims were themselves killed. News reports framed CIPH as the unexpected result of interpersonal conflict, despite evidence of a systematic pattern of coercion and violence that capitulated in murder.
Using in-depth interviews with 30 working class and poor, minority adolescents, students were asked to describe their daily interactions and perceptions of peers in a neighborhood high school in NYC over two years. Among the key findings, students consistently expressed their distrust of “bad kids” who they blamed for many of the school's problems. Three themes based on students lived experiences are described: (1) a neighborhood school with a stigmatized reputation for low academic achievement housed students who displayed anti-academic behavior; (2) students developed normative behavior and informal rules to avoid hostile interactions with peers; (3) perceptions of “bad kids” was racialized and stereotyped. The discussion develops the idea of collective dis-identification, a reverse process from collective identity, where students learned to disconnect from their peers by racially and ethnically segregating.
In an earlier article, Lamb (1991) showed that journal authors, when writing about men battering women, wrote in a way that avoided assigning responsibility to men as perpetrators, and that this kind of writing was more common among male authors as well as female authors who wrote with men. This study examines first whether this kind of writing occurs in newspaper articles on men battering women, and whether two problematic styles of writing have an effect on the reader. Three versions of a newspaper article were developed to differentiate active voice, passive voice, and writing that implies shared responsibility for a man's violence. One hundred and eighty subjects read one of the three versions and endorsed one of five possible punishments for the man in the story who had been violent. Results showed that subjects did not differ in their selection of punishments for the active voice versus the passive voice version, but were much more lenient towards the man after reading the shared responsibility version.
Articles on abuse of women by men were surveyed in eleven journals across four disciplines. Introductory sections from 46 articles were coded for linguistic choices—such as use of the passive voice, nominalization, and diffuse terminology—that obscure the attribution of responsibility. In half or more of the references to abuse, sentence structure and language were deemed problematic, with diffusion of responsibility the most frequent strategy of avoidance. Professional and gender biases were found, with articles by social workers less likely, and articles with male authors more likely, to contain problematic writing.
In choosing and displaying news, editors, newsroom staff, and broadcasters play an important part in shaping political reality. Readers learn not only about a given issue, but also how much importance to attach to that issue from the amount of information in a news story and its position. In reflecting what candidates are saying during a campaign, the mass media may well determine the important issues--that is, the media may set the "agenda." of the campaign.
This study examined news coverage of the Blackwell murders in Seattle. This case concerned the domestic violence murder of a “mail-order bride.” Mainstream coverage positioned Tim Blackwell as deviant and sick and Susana Blackwell as deserving of the crime, because of stereotypical assumptions about women as well as foreigners. This coverage was compared to two minority presses in Seattle to determine how they succeeded in breaking out of dominant ideological frames.
Wife beating has become the object of media attention and government policy, not because of an increase in its frequency, or because the public has become more concerned, but because a social movement developed in the 1970s to help battered women. The growth of the battered women movement illustrates both successful resource mobilization and the creation of a social problem. Pre-existing organizational ties, structural and ideological flexibility, and, in particular, the benefits sponsors gain by supporting movement activities account for the movement's rapid growth and impact. At the same time, increasing co-optation is affecting both how wife beating is defined and managed, and the course of the movement itself.
Past feminist analyses of violence against women have focused largely on the coverage of rape (see Cuklanz; Gordon and Riger; Meyers). Very few researchers have examined media presentations of domestic violence, with Marian Meyers being the notable exception. In her analysis of news coverage of domestic violence Meyers found that most often the crime is portrayed as an “act of love” that the woman “asked for,” while the man is depicted as deviant or sick. Even less attention has been paid to popular culture representations of domestic violence. This study begins to explore that area.
This textual analysis of the newspaper coverage of the murder of a battered woman by her husband shows how myths and stereotypes combine to blame the victim for her own death. It also demonstrates the interconnection of gender, race, and class in the representation of violence against women.
Violence in Marriage 163-218; Demie Kurz Old Problems and New Direc-tions in the Study of Violence Against Women Reframing Domestic Violence: Terrorism in the Home
- Irene H Frieze
- Angela Browne
Irene H. Frieze and Angela Browne, " Violence in Marriage, " in Family Violence ed. Lloyd Ohlin and Michael Tonry (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 163-218; Demie Kurz, " Old Problems and New Direc-tions in the Study of Violence Against Women, " in Issues in Intimate Violence, ed. Raquel Kennedy Bergen (CA: Sage, 1998), 197-208; Isabel Marcus, " Reframing Domestic Violence: Terrorism in the Home, " in The Public Nature of Private Violence, ed. Martha Albertson Fineman and Roxanne Mykitiuk, (NY: Routledge, 1994), 11-35.
The Role of the Media in Domestic Violence Cases: A Journalist's Perspective
- Sheryl Mccarthy
Sheryl McCarthy, " The Role of the Media in Domestic Violence Cases: A Journalist's Perspective, " Albany Law Review 58 (1995): 1235-1244.
Media Advocacy and Public Health The Rise and Fall of Social Problems: A Public Arenas Model
- Wallack
Wallack et al., Media Advocacy and Public Health; Stephen Hilgartner and Charles L. Bosk, " The Rise and Fall of Social Problems: A Public Arenas Model, " American Journal of Sociology 94 (July 1988): 53-78.
The Newspaper as a Social Movement's Re-source
- Gaye Tuchman
Gaye Tuchman, " The Newspaper as a Social Movement's Re-source, " in Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media, ed. Gaye Tuchman, Arlene Kaplan Daniels and James Benet (NY: Oxford University Press, 1978), 186-215.
Violence is Violence ... Or is It? The Social Construction of 'Wife Abuse' and Public Policy
- R Donilee
- Loseke
Donilee R. Loseke, " Violence is Violence... Or is It? The Social Construction of 'Wife Abuse' and Public Policy, " in Images of Issues: Typifying