If it Bleeds it Leads

Abstract

This paper examines newspaper coverage of sexual and reproductive health and violence against women, from 1995 until 2015, in two print newspapers from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The analysis shows that while coverage of violence against women increased over the 20-year period, coverage of sexual and reproductive health did not. Moreover, drawing on framing theory, content analysis indicates that, regardless of the level of coverage, throughout the period examined, articles on these topics tended to eschew a gender equality approach, and to be framed in episodic, rather than thematic frames. Finally, articles about violence against women are significantly less likely to use either the equality frame or the thematic frame than stories about sexual and reproductive health. This paper draws on these findings to reflect on the relevance of portraying these issues as social concerns with impact in gender equality.

KEYWORDS:

• media framing
• gender issues
• journalistic norms
• newspapers
• violence
• human rights

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The days selected were: Monday 2/1/1995, Tuesday 7/3/1995, Wednesday 17/5/1995, Thursday 27/7/1995, Friday 29/9/1995, Saturday 4/11/1995, Sunday 10/12/1995. Monday 10/2/1997, Tuesday 22/4/1997, Wednesday 25/6/1997, Thursday 4/12/1997, Friday 8/8/1997, Saturday 18/10/1997, Sunday 27/7/1997. Monday 27/12/1999, Tuesday 5/10/1999, Wednesday 18/8/1999, Thursday 17/6/1999, Friday 9/4/1999, Saturday 27/3/1999, Sunday 14/2/1999, Monday 19/11/2001, Tuesday 18/9/2001, Wednesday 25/7/2001, Thursday 31/5/2001, Friday 16/3/2001, Saturday 3/2/2001, Sunday 14/1/2001; Monday 23/6/2003, Tuesday 12/8/2003, Wednesday 17/9/2003, Thursday 9/10/2003, Friday 2/5/2003, Saturday 22/3/2003, Sunday 2/2/2003; Monday 9/5/2005, Tuesday 19/7/2005, Wednesday 7/12/2005, Thursday 22/9/2005, Friday 18/11/2005, Saturday 1/1/2005, Sunday 24/4/2005; Monday 04/06/2007, Tuesday 30/1/2007, Wednesday 24/10/2007, Thursday 17/5/2007, Friday 9/2/2007, Saturday 3/3/2007, Sunday 19/8/2007; Monday 14/9/2009, Tuesday 6/10/2009, Wednesday 22/7/2009, Thursday 5/3/2009, Friday 27/11/2009, Saturday 9/5/2009, Sunday 5/4/2009; Monday 22/8/2011, Tuesday 6/12/2011, Wednesday 28/9/2011, Thursday 17/5/2011, Friday 4/11/2011, Saturday 15/1/2011, Sunday 13/3/2011; Monday 4/11/2013, Tuesday 27/8/2013, Wednesday 20/2/2013, Thursday 13/6/2013, Friday 05/04/2013, Saturday 13/07/2013, Sunday 20/10/2013; Monday 25/5/2015, Tuesday 3/3/2015, Wednesday 14/10/2015, Thursday 10/9/2015, Friday 30/01/20015, Saturday 4/4/2015, Sunday 1/2/2015

2 Copies of both publications were consulted in the Mariano Moreno National Library and the Library of Congress.

3 51% of all stories about violence against women where about femicides, that is, the murder of women by men mediated by gender violence, which is recognized as an aggravating circumstance in murder cases by argentine law (Law 26.791). 22% of the stories about this topic were about sexual assault or rape, 10% about battering, 4% about institutional violence or discrimination against women, 3% about forced prostitution, 4% about women’s trafficking for sexual exploitation, 2% about traditional practices harmful to women (for example female genital mutilation) and 3% about other topics, such as laws for the protection of victims of violence, or media violence against women and girls.

4 16% of all stories about sexual and reproductive health were about (In)fertility and assisted reproduction, 9% about contraception, 33% about abortion, 7% about prenatal care, childbirth and/or postnatal care, 16% about sexually transmitted diseases, 4% about gynecological care, 5% about sex education, 6% about sexual life and 3% about other topics.

5 Página/12 did not publish a Monday issue in the period between 1995 and 1997.

6 The second coder analyzed 15% of the sample, corresponding to the first coding spreadsheet collected. This decision results from the need to determine the level of agreement before proceeding with the assembly of the following spreadsheets, given that the collection was manual. The intercoder agreement for the variable “topic” was 93.62% with a Cohen Kappa coefficient of 0.80; for the variable equality frame 88.00% with a Cohen Kappa of 0.7400; for the variable episodic or thematic it was 88.00% with a Cohen Kappa of 0.7442

7 In June 2013, Angeles Rawson, a sixteen-year old girl was killed and thrown in the trash by the doorman of her building, a crime that captured the public’s attention.

8 Increased coverage could result from a surge of violence against women. In Argentina, there is a deficiency of comprehensive data about the incidence of gender violence over time (CEPAL 2012). However, regional data provided by the United Nation’s Global Homicide Book and time series analysis of homicide rates in Argentina by gender allows the preliminary conclusion that there hasn’t been a significative increase in femicides during the period studied (UNODC 2011; Fleitas and Otamendi 2012).