Functional truth or sexist distortion

Assessing a feminist critique of intimate violence reporting

Bibliographic Data

ID7477448
AuthorsJohn Mcmanus (0000-0002-3870-6389, Stanford University, corresponding author), Lori Dorfman (0000-0002-4012-613X, Berkeley Media Studies Group,)
Year2005
Volume6
Issue1
Pages43-65
Publication date2005-01-11
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournalism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-8849 • E-ISSN: 1741-3001
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1464884905048952
OpenAlexW2016896406
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited13

Journalism assumes reporters are able to pursue ‘functional truth’ - an account of issues and events reliably describing social reality. But researchers have often found systematic bias. In reporting about cross-gender violence, critical feminist scholars contend that news media devalue violence against women and often blame the victim while mitigating or blurring the perpetrator’s responsibility. The present study is the first in the USA to test this critique as it applies to reporting the vast social pathology of intimate-partner violence. Consistent with the critique, intimate violence was covered much less often and with less depth than other violence of similar gravity. In contrast, however, the newspapers studied very rarely blamed female battering victims or mitigated suspect blame

Blame · Criminology · Domestic violence · Intimate partner · Journalism · Newspaper · Poison control · Political science · Social media · Suicide prevention · Suspect · Gender Politics and Representation · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Medicine · Psychology · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Law · Social Psychology

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