Prof says newspapers perpetuate myths of domestic violence
A study done by Utah State University professor Cathy Ferrand Bullock shows that newspaper coverage of domestic violence cases in Utah tends to perpetuate commonly held misconceptions.
“Journalists can confirm or debunk myths surrounding domestic violence incidents,” Bullock said at Wednesday’s Fall Brown Bag Presentation entitled “Utah Newspapers’ Coverage of Domestic Violence Fatalities.”
The study performed by Bullock examined all newspaper articles written in Utah during 2002 that dealt with murders involving domestic violence. The study was similar to another Bullock did at Washington State University in 1998. Both studies included only news coverage of domestic violence murder cases before they went to trial, and both included only stories that happened in or were connected directly to their respective states.
Bullock said the purposes of the study were to see if the articles actually came out and said the murders were related to domestic violence, whether the coverage conveyed commonly held misconceptions about domestic violence and how the Utah data compared to that of Washington State. Because Utah is usually considered a family-oriented state, she wanted to see if Utah reporters would confront the issue or just “sweep it under the rug.”
“In general the coverage tended to portray misconceptions about domestic violence,” Bullock said.
The research showed that only 27.9 percent of the 450 articles used in the Utah study actually labeled the case as domestic violence, although 68.2 percent made it clear through the context of the article that domestic violence was involved. This evidence shows that the articles portrayed the common misconception that domestic violence deaths are sudden isolated incidences, and not part of a pattern of abuse, she said.
“The truth is, domestic violence involves an escalating pattern of abuse,” Bullock said, as she explained how the abuse usually starts as psychological, then moves to physical abuse and even death.
Another misconception portrayed by the articles is that the perpetrator has an excuse or a valid motive.
“Roughly one third of the articles gave an excuse or a motive to the perpetrator,” Bullock said, indicating that although one third isn’t extremely high, it is still higher than she believes it should be.
“Really, there isn’t any excuse,” Bullock said. “The real problem is that the person is abusive.”
Just less than 13 percent of the articles said the victim was somehow to blame, either because of infidelity, drug or alcohol use, or for other related reasons. This number also is not very high but is higher than it should be, Bullock said.
The study also showed the articles conveyed the idea that domestic violence deaths should only be looked at as cases of homicide, and not as part of a broader domestic violence problem in society. Only 4.1 percent of the articles alluded to domestic violence as a problem in our society.
In addition, the coverage tended to portray only physical abuse, neglecting the fact that these cases most often begin with psychological abuse, Bullock said. Just 5.6 percent of the articles talked about psychological abuse.
According to a report done by the Utah State Cabinet Domestic Violence Counsel and cited by Bullock, 20 percent of Utah deaths in 2001 involved domestic violence. Other reports done by the federal government showed that, for the same year, only 11 percent of deaths nationwide dealt with domestic violence. Bullock used this data to show that Utah, with its 450 articles written about the subject, is doing a good job covering the larger number of domestic violence cases, but the coverage does tend to portray myths about domestic violence.
The numbers for Utah and Washington State were similar; the only difference being that in Washington 47.8 percent of the articles gave excuses for the perpetrator’s actions whereas only 29.1 percent did in Utah.
“I think that coverage in both states is falling short; that’s the bad news,” Bullock said. “There is cause for concern but also reason for hope. We don’t have to revise journalism in order to portray domestic violence accurately.”
Bullock also pointed out legal issues which must be taken into account. Often, reporters can’t label a suspect as an abuser until it has been proven in court that he or she is. In addition, demographics come into play when dealing with relationships between the press and the public in small towns.
Bullock said there is still more data from the Utah study that needs to be processed. Once she receives needed grant money, she said she plans to continue doing follow-up research on both the Utah and the Washington State studies, and would like to examine how much readers are affected by misconceptions in the news coverage.
“I’ll be doing this for the next 20 years,” Bullock said.
-sjeppesen@cc.usu.edu