'She knew he would murder her’
The role of the media in the reconstruction of intimate femicide
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v13i1.157Keywords:
intimate femicide, news coverage, mass media, violence against womenAbstract
The media play a central role in the social construction of intimate femicide, and therefore the news coverage of femicide can contribute to social awareness and the response policies of institutions which deal with this crime. The current study analyses the differences in Israeli newspapers’ framing of femicide committed by members of ethnic groups between the years 2005-2014. The analysis shows that the social construction of intimate femicide reflects the intersection between gender, social class and ethnic origin. The findings suggest that news coverage fills a key role in the perpetuation of the structure of dominance, gender and social class, and that the overall coverage of femicide is mainly episodic and described in personalized terms, rather than within a thematic frame. This study provides new insight into the media’s role in shaping the social denial of this crime, and sheds light on how the prevalent discourse inhibits participants from taking responsibility.
References
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Sela-Shayovitz, R. (2014). They Are All Good Boys’—The Role of the Media in the Social Construction of Gang Rape. Feminist Media Studies, 27(3), 37-41.
Senyor, E. (2013). Body in a Suitcase: Turkish Man Killed His Friend. Yedi’ot Aharonot, August 13.
Shoham, E. (2013). The Coverage of ‘Spousal Homicide’ in the Ethiopian Community in the Israeli Daily Press. Journal of Politics and Law, 6(2), 185-192.
Smith, K., Coleman, K., Eder, S., & Hall, P. (2011). Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2009/10. Supplementary Volume 2 to Crime in England and Wales 2009/10. Home Office Statistical Bulletin, London: Home Office, 2011.
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Turgeman, M., & Barkan, N. (2008). They Were a Model Couple and No One Knew that an Argument Could Lead to this Madness. Yedi’ot Aharonot, October 31.
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Weil, S. (2016). Making Femicide Visible. Current Sociology, 64(7), 1124-1137.
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2009). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. Second Ed. London: Sage.
Abramov, E., & Barkan, N. (2008). Outside the Fence: Two Families Are Grief. Yedi’ot Aharonot, October 31.
Arnon, N. (2012a). Slashed His Wife’s Throat and Stabbed Her to Death. Ma’ariv, September 3.
Arnon, N. (2012b). Killed His Girlfriend Because She Refused to Marry Him. Ma’ariv, December 17.
Avni, I. (2008). They Looked Like a Happy Family: Mother, Father and Two Small Children. Yedi’ot Aharonot, October 24.
Babbie, E. (2001). The Practice of Social Research. Ninth Ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.
Bano, G. (2009). Mother of Three Was Murdered in the Village of Nahf. Yedi’ot Aharonot, December 15.
Blood, R., Warwick, P., Putnis, P., & Pirkis, J. (2002). Mental-Illness News as Violence: A News Frame Analysis of the Reporting and Portrayal of Mental Health and Illness in Australian Media. Australian Journal of Communication, 29(2), 59-82.
Bullock, C., & Cubert, J. (2002). Coverage of Domestic Violence Fatalities by Newspapers in Washington State. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 17 (5), 475-499.
Campbell, J. C., Glass, N., Sharps, P., Laughon, K., & Bloom. T. (2007). Intimate Partner Homicide: Review and Implications of Research and Policy. Trauma, Violence, and Abuse, 8(3), 246-269.
Chermak, S. (1995). Victims in the News: Crime and the American News Media. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Chiricos, T, & Eschholz, S. ( 2002). The Racial and Ethnic Typification of Crime and the Criminal Typification of Race and Ethnicity in Local Television News. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 39(4), 400-420.
Cooper, A., & Smith, E. (2011). Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011.
Croteau, D., & Hoynes, W. (1997). Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge.
Della-Giustina, J. (2005). Gender, Race and Class as Predictors of Femicide Rates: A Path Analysis (unpublished doctoral dissertation). New York, NY: City University of New York.
Dixon, T., & Linz, D. (2000). Overrepresentation and Underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as Lawbreakers on Television News. Journal of Communication, 50(2), 131-54.
Fairbairn, J., & Dawson, D. (2013). Canadian News Coverage of Intimate Partner Homicide: Analyzing Changes over Time. Feminist Criminology, 8(3), 147-175.
Glikman, E. (2008). Dadde, Stop Stabbing, Mom is Bleeding. Yedi’ot Aharonot, August 8.
Glikman, E., & Turgeman, M. (2006). Sisters of Tragedy: Two Sisters Were Killed by Their Husbands, Five Years Apart. Yedi’ot Aharonot, March 3.
Greer, C., & Jewkes, Y. (2005). Extremes of Otherness: Media Images of Social Exclusion. Social Justice, 32(1), 20-31.
Iyengar, S. (1991). Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.
Johnson, H. (2006). Measuring Violence Against Women: Statistical Trends 2006 (Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 85-570-XIE): Ottawa, Ontario: Statistics Canada.
Johnson, H., & Dawson, M. (2011). Violence Against Women in Canada: Research and Policy Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press Canada.
Landau, S., & Rolef, S. (1998). Intimate Femicide in Israel: Temporal, Social, and Motivational Patterns. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 6(1), 75-90.
Levi, E. (2006). Igor Zozolia Thirty-Five-Years-Old Stabbed His Girlfriend 86 Times and Was Convicted of Manslaughter and Not Murder. Ma’ariv, June 18.
Maguire, K. (2007). Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t31312005.pdf.
Meital, G. (2006). Come On, Mom and Dad Are Not Moving. Yedi’ot Aharonot, June 24.
Meyers, M. (1994). News of Battering. Journal of Communications, (44)2, 47-63.
Meyers, M. (1997). News Coverage of Violence against Women. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Ofer, Y. (2013). The Indictment Against Turkish Citizen Suspect that Murdered His Girlfriend and Cut Apart the Body Was Submitted. Ma’ariv, August 13.
Richards, T., Gillespie, L., & Smith, D. (2011). Exploring News Coverage of Femicide: Does Reporting the News Add Insult to Injury? Feminist Criminology, 6(3), 178-202.
Richards, T., Gillespie, L., & Smith, D. (2014). An Examination of the Media Portrayal of Femicide-Suicides: An Exploratory Frame Analysis. Feminist Criminology, 9(1), 24-44.
Ronen, M., & Regev, D. (2006). Killing Is Contagious. Yedi’ot Aharonot, May 14.
Rosenfeld, R. (1997). Changing Relationships Between Men and Women. Homicide Studies, 1(1), 72-83.
Sela-Shayovitz, R. (2010). The Role of Ethnicity and Context: Intimate Femicide Rates Among Social Groups in Israeli Society. Violence against Women, 16(2), 1424-1436.
Sela-Shayovitz, R. (2014). They Are All Good Boys’—The Role of the Media in the Social Construction of Gang Rape. Feminist Media Studies, 27(3), 37-41.
Senyor, E. (2013). Body in a Suitcase: Turkish Man Killed His Friend. Yedi’ot Aharonot, August 13.
Shoham, E. (2013). The Coverage of ‘Spousal Homicide’ in the Ethiopian Community in the Israeli Daily Press. Journal of Politics and Law, 6(2), 185-192.
Smith, K., Coleman, K., Eder, S., & Hall, P. (2011). Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2009/10. Supplementary Volume 2 to Crime in England and Wales 2009/10. Home Office Statistical Bulletin, London: Home Office, 2011.
Stöckl, H., Devries, K., Rotstein, A., & Garcia-Moreno, K. (2013). The Global Prevalence of Intimate Partner Homicide: A Systematic Review. Published online June 20, 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61030-2
Surette, R. (2007). Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Images, Realities and Policies, Third Ed. Belmont, CE: Thomson/Wadsworth Publications.
Turgeman, M. (2007). Femicide and Suicide in the Perfect Family. Yedi’ot Aharonot, October 10.
Turgeman, M., & Barkan, N. (2008). They Were a Model Couple and No One Knew that an Argument Could Lead to this Madness. Yedi’ot Aharonot, October 31.
Van Dijk, T. (2001). Principles of Discourse Analysis. In Discourse Theory and Practice. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor, & S. Yates (Eds.), 300-318. London: Sage Publications.
Weil, S. (2016). Making Femicide Visible. Current Sociology, 64(7), 1124-1137.
Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2009). Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. Second Ed. London: Sage.
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Published
2018-07-25
How to Cite
Sela-Shayovitz, R. (2018). ’She knew he would murder her’: The role of the media in the reconstruction of intimate femicide. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 13(1), 11–34. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v13i1.157
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