Was Anastasia Victim of Partner Violence? Media Coverage of Femicide in Romania and Moldova

ABSTRACT

The article presents the way in which online media from two South-Eastern European and former communist countries (Romania and the Republic of Moldova) have covered a case of femicide-suicide. We chose to analyse the case of Anastasia Cia, a celebrity from the Republic of Moldova that was well-known in both countries and who was killed by her husband, a Moldavan citizen. she had worked as a model, actress and singer in Romania. The online media analysis had highlighted the presence mainly of the episodic frames and victim-blaming techniques identified by other studies. Also the analysis has pointed out the use of content from the social media profiles of the victim and aggressor (especially the photos) as a source of victim-blaming techniques. The results point out also the need to find a solution to the ethical problems raised by the use of social networks’ the content in the traditional media coverage of violence against women and femicide.

KEYWORDS:

• Femicide-suicide
• online media
• social media
• self-commodification
• Romania
• Republic of Moldova

Disclosure Statement

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