Discursive (re)construction of intimate partner violence in online news media accounts: Stories from Western Australia

Andrea M Byrne

Intimate partner and family violence (IPV/FV) is a complex, enduring, endemic issue, rooted in gendered socio-cultural conditions. Building on earlier Australian and international research, this study examines the discursive (re)presentation of IPV/FV in online news reporting. Drawing on news discourse studies, an analytical framework was developed to examine how discursive elements are strategically employed in the story (re)construction process. The framework was applied to an overall sample of online news stories (n=532) pertaining to 25 fatal (n=458) and 16 non-fatal (n=74) cases of IPV/FV perpetrated in Western Australia, reported on in two national and two local online news outlets between 2015 and 2022, to provide general impressions (or an overview) of the full dataset. The sample was then narrowed, in a detailed case study analysis, focusing on a subset of stories (n=103) related to two selected cases, spanning the life of the story from the first to the final news reports. In the analysis, several problematic aspects in online news reporting of IPV/FV incidents were revealed. An overreliance on criminal justice system sources was evident. The use of legal language or simplified descriptive terms was common in accounts describing the violence and its aftermath. In news reports, IPV incidents and related events were only occasionally labelled explicitly as such. Explanations for IPV/FV frequently relied on simplistic and stereotypical portrayals of victims and perpetrators, often implying mutuality and mitigating perpetrator responsibility. Combined with episodic framing, focusing on individual incidents from a criminal justice perspective, these journalistic practices worked to dislocate the issue from its wider social context. The discursive strategies commonly employed in representations of IPV/FV in online news stories in Western Australia may contribute to the persistence of violence-supportive attitudes within the community, at a time when Australian governments are committed to “ending gender-based violence in one generation” (Department of Social Services 2022, 14). As the role of the news media in anti-violence prevention strategies is formally recognised at the policy level, analysing online news media representation of IPV/FV is an important area of enquiry, particularly in relation to how the Australian news media can rethink and reform reporting on this issue.

Discursive (re)construction of intimate partner violence in online news media accounts: Stories from Western Australia

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