Critical Media Analysis
I have chosen to critically analyse an article about extreme gender based violence (GBV) –specifically intimate partner homicide. I will provide a critical analysis of the way the GBV is represented and discussed within this article, with a focus on victim blaming, reactive explanations of violence, biological explanations of violence, and feminist explanations of violence. Within this analysis I will explore the common media techniques of framing and the prevalence of newsworthiness; and the way in which these frameworks impact on how GBV is represented within the media. I will also review how these representations reflect on how GBV is viewed and addressed by society.
One of the over-arching themes within the article is the victim-blaming mentality that is present throughout, and the subsequent representation that GBV is perpetuated as a result of women’s actions. Victim-blaming is when the victim is framed to be deserving of the violence that has been inflicted upon them (Lloyd and Ramon, 2017). It is notable here therefore, to explain that framing is when media outlets use specific techniques in order to cast people and events in a particular light (Easteal, Holland and Judd, 2015). In the context of this analysis, framing includes using specific language and framework to enable certain portrayals of people to be adopted, and this has the effect of altering audience perception and transforming public opinion (Gillespie et al, 2013 and Easteal, Holland and Judd 2015). In specific relation to extreme GBV, Fairbairn and Dawson (2013) discuss that within intimate partner homicides it is common that framing regularly excuses the perpetrator. The article uses a number of techniques in order to frame the victim as being deserving of her murder, consequently defending the perpetrator, and I am going to examine a number of these.
To begin with, the victim's infidelity is referred to multiple times throughout the article. In the headline, which is the first section that the reader would engage with, it refers to the victim as a ‘cheating wife’ This phrase is also echoed in the tagline, the next section that the reader would see. By using this language and framing the victim within the first sections of the article, the victim-blaming viewpoint is immediately established. In addition, the article uses the technique of repetition of the word ‘cheating’ to enhance this framing and representation that the victim is deserving of this GBV. As the article progresses, the victim's infidelity is mentioned and discussed again, with an entire section dedicated to the dialogue of possible
affairs and cheating behaviour. The article uses various avoidable adjectives such as ‘flirtatious’ and ‘unfaithful’ to describe the victim, enchaining the victim-blaming framing further. The article also outlines the victim's sex-life in extreme and inappropriate detail, including phrases that are clearly existent to fault her further and push the audience into thinking she was deserving of her murder. For example, discussing how she ‘had sex with a man at a party in York’ and how she ‘kissed a cousin's husband at a family party’ This technique of victim-blaming is commonplace within how GBV is represented in the media (Lloyd and Ramon, 2017). Vera-Grey (2018) examines the idea of victim-blaming in her work by exploring how from a young age, women are taught that nothing ‘bad’ will happen to them – as long as they are ‘good’ (Vera-Grey, 2018 pp 69). Therefore, if women are the latter, it is expected that something ‘bad’ will happen to them (Vera-Grey, 2018 pp 69). In this case, the article is reiterating this idea by representing that the victim deserves what happened to her, because she was ‘cheating’ and therefore does not fit into the category of being a ‘good’ woman and wife (Vera-Grey, 2018 pp 69). Within the context of the article’s discussion, the murder of a wife by her partner, this rhetoric therefore also defends the perpetrator, reduces his responsibility and ultimately deflects the blame onto the victim (Carll, 1999; Meyers, 1994, 1997 in Wozniak and McCloskey, 2010).
To continue, it is also significant to look at theoretical frameworks that try to explain GBV. One of the most relevant to the article I am analysing is reactive theory. This is when violence occurs ‘as a response to social conditions’ (Hearn, 1998 pp 34). It is the principle that GBV and hostility are a reaction to the frustration caused by individual strain, economic strain, and social strain (Hearn, 1998). In the article, it is detailed that the perpetrator had been undergoing economic instability leading up to the event of the murder. In the headline, it states that he was ‘deep in debt’ which immediately frames the husband to be struggling economically. Additionally, the article also states that ‘Robin Garbutt was struggling with £30,000 credit card debts’ which further reiterates the economic stressors he was facing. The article uses the technique of repetition and states the total of ‘£30,000’ again later on in the article, to further enhance the established frame of someone who is financially stressed –providing the exact total to reinforce the audiences understanding of his taxing economic situation. In doing this, the article is trying to excuse the perpetrators actions by justifying his murder as a reactive response, not a personal choice.
Another quotation that is notable for analysis is within the article’s discussion of how the perpetrator is ‘trying not to outwardly fail in his business or his marriage’. This links to the concept of hegemonic masculinity in the way that men are expected to be successful financially, supporting their wives and children, and romantically – maintaining a happy relationship (Lombard, 2018). If these expectations are not met, the man may feel strain as they are not achieving an expected patriarchal goal set out by society (Eriksson and Paul, 2013). Therefore, if they do not accomplish and instead ‘fail’ in their ‘business’ and ‘marriage’, the pressure of the situation may result in violence. The article states: ‘the pressure, tension and ill-feeling erupted in extreme violence in which he killed his wife’. This highlights that the article is trying to justify the perpetrators behaviour towards his wife by painting his actions as a reaction to stress. This emphasises that the article is framing his violence as occurring, not because the man is violent, but instead because the man’s objectives and aims are obstructed and violence becomes the result of this (Hearn, 1998). The article also uses powerful verbs such as ‘snapped’ and ‘erupted’ to enhance the ideology of a reactive based reason for violence.
It is important to reiterate that the media often ‘frames intimate partner homicide in a way that silences the cause: domestic violence escalating to murder’ (Sweeney, 2015 pp 155). The violence is excused and the blame redistributed onto other factors such as the victim's behaviour or reactive stressors such as financial instability – as I have discussed above. This depiction of offender-excusing affects how domestic violence and homicides are observed by the audience and subsequently how they are addressed by society (Lee and Wong, 2020). By framing domestic violence in this way, it becomes unlikely that this issue will be effectively addressed meaning that social change will not occur (Lee and Wong, 2020)
Following on from this, another factor that causes the representations of GBV to be skewed within the media is the idea of newsworthiness. Incidents are reported on if they are seen as being newsworthy – this may consist of violent crimes described with emotive language that will boost the number of readers, for example (Lloyd and Ramon, 2017). In short, when a specific case includes factors that are exceptionally offensive; these cases are more likely to be reported on and this has the effect of not accurately portraying GBV (Lee and Wong, 2020).
In the example of the article, violent terminology is used to sensationalise the event and make
it more newsworthy. For example, ‘bludgeoned’ and ‘battered’ are used to describe how the victim was killed. It is a combination of creating newsworthiness and specific framing techniques that can distort the reality of what actually occurred (Wozniak and McCloskey, 2010). In most instances, the media care more about profit and gaining readership than accurately portraying the incident (Lloyd and Ramon, 2017).
In relation to the violent terminology that I have discussed above, ‘bludgeoned’ and ‘battered’, and also with the addition of phrases such as ‘violently kill’ and ‘extreme violence’, I think it is significant here to briefly discuss another theoretical framework of violence. The biological framework is the idea that men are ‘seen as naturally aggressive’ and that this becomes a justification for their GBV (Hearn, 1998 pp 26). Although this is more subtly present in the article, I think the use of violent terminology in relation to how the victim was killed relates passively to a biological explanation of men’s violence. The language portrays almost animalistic behaviour executed by the perpetrator and highlights his aggressive nature. This framework therefore excuses violence under the idea that it is within a man’s genetics to be violent – and so it cannot be avoided.
Moreover, exploring feminist explanations of GBV is also vital to this critical analysis. Feminist studies focus on how GBV is viewed as part of the ongoing system of female oppression by patriarchy (Hearn, 1998). Patriarchy is embedded within our social structure and depicts men’s control over women in various formats – including physical violence (Maynard and Hamner, 1987). Every woman is affected by this and will therefore, at one point in their lifespan, experience sexual violence (Kelly, 1987). Many media sources, including the article in discussion, are executors of patriarchy (Easteal, Holland and Judd, 2015). For example, it is often the case that dominant paradigms, such as those I have discussed above including victim blaming and perpetrator excusing, are reinforced by media outlets which subsequently aids systematic female oppression and male dominance (Easteal, Holland and Judd 2015).
In the case of this article, extreme GBV is being reported on – or intimate partner homicide. This form of extreme GBV is represented in the article in a number of ways. I will begin by analysing the feminist illustration that no woman is safe. The article states that the victim was murdered ‘as she slept’ and it is then repeated later on that she was ‘sleeping in her own bed’
when she was killed. This highlights that women cannot even be safe when sleeping in their own home. In a space that would usually be deemed secure, gendered violence is still prevalent. It is notable here to mention that homicide and other forms of GBV are commonly perpetrated by partners or ex-partners – out of 362 homicides committed in the year ending March 2021, 59% were female victims killed by their partner or an ex-partner (ONS, 2021). This statistic infers that safe spaces, like bedrooms, can become usual environments for violence to transpire
To continue, the article suggests that there were already issues going on between the victim and the perpetrator, but that these issues were occurring behind closed doors and so were not addressed. This is inferred through the quotation: ‘Behind the facade of a happy and financially comfortable couple there were problems and all was not as it might have appeared on the surface to the public eye’. This example relates to a feminist explanation of violence because it reiterates that GBV is often kept private due to the stigma attached to it Women are expected to appear ‘happy’ and ‘loving’ and obey their partners even if they are struggling or being abused. Historically, GBV was seen as a private matter, and still, in our contemporary world, it is extremely under reported to the police (Gracia, 2004). This is because of personal issues such as shame, fear of retaliation from a partner and economic reliance on a partner, and societal issues such as keeping family issues private and societies victim blaming mentality (Gracia, 2004). Therefore the notion that the couple were keeping a ‘façade’ of being happy and that the women may have been suffering in silence, is not uncommon.
To conclude, the article I have selected can be explored with reference to common theories and explanations as to why GBV occurs, and how it is frequently framed in the media. The main representations centre on how GBV is regularly framed as being the victims fault through techniques such as victim blaming, and how the perpetrator is often excused through blaming their actions on factors such as stress and biological make-up. Feminist explanations of GBV in the form of patriarchal structures are also represented within the article, showing that all women are unsafe due to the dominant positioning of men in our society. Newsworthiness and the ideology that media outlets write their articles with the objective of grasping audience attention and profiting financially is also displayed within the articlereiterating the point that until GBV is accurately represented it cannot be accurately tackled.
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