How Australian media is changing the way it reports violence against women
In the wake of a series of murders across Australia, the media has finally begun to shift the way it reports incidents, writes Annie Blatchford in this crossposting from The Conversation.
Recently in Australia there has been a horrific wave of murders of women and children. But, in the aftermath of the #metoo movement, we have seen a change in the way the media are reporting violence against women.
Witness the reporting of the murder of Eurydice Dixon, followed by the abduction and rape of a woman in Carlton, murder-suicides in Western Australia and Sydney and the murders of two women in Melbourne in one weekend.
Over this period, there were subtle but significant shifts in the way the incidents were reported. Murders were labelled as “domestic” homicides sooner, the focus shifted from the victims’ to the perpetrators’ behaviour, and the men responsible for murdering their families transformed from “good blokes” to “cowards”.
Great article. Strong, factual and informative way to move journalism and society forward to provide a healthier environment for all.
Really a brilliant piece of writing.
Great overview, Annie. There’s still a lot of work to be done around accurate reporting when it comes to marginalised communities (for example, the recent murder of Laa Chol) but it seems finally journalists are getting the message.
My father lectured my brother and me about respect for women as long ago as 1959.
I was going to dances alone by 1966, and I was well versed in the polite and dignified way to ask a lady to dance, to enjoy the delightful company of a young woman, and to see her safely home after the dance had concluded. It was well known that boys were physical with each other when a conflict arose, but that it was low and cowardly to be similarly physical with women.
When did all this change? Why do we need to remind ourselves of that which ought to be absolutely obvious.
I am no doubt sounding terribly old fashioned, when I say that my father and my uncle (now both deceased) cussed like troupers, but never ever in front of the women of our family, they were big men, ex soldiers and very strong, but neither of them ever struck his wife, and we boys were slapped down instantly if we ever uttered anything disrespectful to, or even about females.
We were not exceptionally virtuous, and I recall that most of the people I grew up with were of a similar mind set.
Its good to see that DV is no longer a taboo subject. What will be difficult to shift is the co-morbid issues like substance abuse (particularly methamphetamine and alcohol) which increase the risk of DV. Plenty of people who would otherwise not be violent become so when experiencing the paranoia associated with substance abuse, however in this country we are very permissive of hedonism in general and substance abuse in particular.
The prevailing cultural attitude seems to be quite libertarian “Let the use drugs they are only harming themselves” – which is of course BS when there are women and children beaning physically/sexually and emotionally assaulted by drug users.
Wonder how many in the mainstream media will be willing to take on Aussie hedonism?