“Extra, Extra Read All About it!” Analysing the Element of Sensationalism on Domestic Violence Reporting During the Pandemic

Abstract

Domestic violence is a pressing and serious issue that affects many individuals, especially women and children. However, some media has the tendency to report domestic violence cases in a sensationalised manner despite having a crucial responsibility of delivering news objectively. Using non-probability sampling, 30 online articles from Malay Mail and 30 online articles from Free Malaysia Today that is related to domestic violence were analysed using qualitative content analysis. This paper discovered four prominent themes that reveals the element of sensationalism such as headlines, emphasising on abusive actions, causes of domestic violence, and victim blaming. The study found that Free Malaysia Today reporting on domestic violence emphasises sensationalism more prominently compared to the Malay Mail. Future studies could expand the duration of the study of sensationalism and include a comparison of other online news media portals.