Pacific-based newspaper reporting on violence against women and girls

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pacific Island women and girls experience violence at over double the global average rate, partly because violence is often legitimised as an expression of male power. This article presents a critical discourse analytic study of newspaper reporting on violence against women and girls (VAWG) in leading English-language newspapers from 11 Pacific Island nations. Using content analysis, I mapped the relative frequency of reporting on VAWG and gender equality in 870 articles published between June 2017 and May 2019. I then examined how Pacific news reporting frames VAWG, and how VAWG-focused articles (n = 720) use various forms of reporting long considered problematic, including downplaying violence and perpetuating rape myths. This study draws on an extensive body of research into VAWG reporting, but documents for the first time how Pacific news reporting needs to change in order to challenge the norms underpinning VAWG in the region.