Femicide coverage in German-language news. A content analysis of Austrian, German, and Swiss newspaper articles from 2018 to 2020

Autor(en)

Irmgard Wetzstein, Yvonne Prinzellner, Elisabeth Kröpfl

Abstrakt

The study examines the coverage of femicides in a period of 3 years (January 2018–December 2020) in German-language news. The content of 383 articles from 14 different Austrian, German and Swiss quality and tabloid newspapers was analysed, focusing on used labels, the contextualisation as a structural or individual issue, as well as on reported crime scenes, victim–perpetrator relationships, migration backgrounds and religious faith. The results inter alia show that femicides are rather contextualized as an individual tragedy than as a structural problem. Furthermore, the use of euphemistic and sensationalist labels such as “relationship drama” or “blood deed” differ significantly depending on the reported victim–perpetrator relationship. Gender-focusing labels such as “femicide” or “murder of women” were rather used when a perpetrator’s migration background was mentioned.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft

Externe Organisation(en)

Fachhochschule St. Pölten

Journal

Feminist Media Studies

ISSN

1468-0777

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2024.2417996

Publikationsdatum

10-2024

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

508007 Kommunikationswissenschaft

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Communication, Gender studies, Visual Arts and Performing Arts

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/a42b2521-6dbd-442d-8d3a-2d00f9b8bc93