By Gofaone Motsamai

Gender-based violence (GBV) is seldom an isolated crime, yet it is often portrayed as such in South African media reports. This is borne out by the research findings of North-West University (NWU) master’s graduate Elsje-Marié Jordaan.

She analysed media coverage of GBV from 14 October 2023 to 21 January 2024 – the period before, during and after the annual 16 Days of Activism campaign. While the media carried numerous reports on GBV during this period, what often went unnoticed was how these stories were told – and what was left out.

In her MA Communication dissertation, Elsje-Marié argued that GBV coverage continues to isolate violent incidents from the broader systemic and historical context.

“The risk is that GBV is often misrepresented as an isolated crime,” she wrote in her dissertation. The result is coverage that “not only obscures the colonial history of violence against women but also reinforces patriarchal power structures, marginalising especially African women”.

To close the gap, Elsje-Marié has proposed a new GBV reporting framework.

Drawing from an integrated theoretical perspective that includes social responsibility theory, postcolonial media theory and journalism ethics, her proposed framework centres ethical accountability and emphasises the need for contextual depth, survivor-centred reporting and community inclusion.

Rather than focusing solely on a particular event, the framework encourages journalists to reflect on their power and positionality, and the structural issues underpinning GBV, thereby ensuring that coverage does not perpetuate harm or stereotypes.

Code of ethics should go further

Elsje-Marié says the South African Press Council’s Code of Ethics and Conduct for Print and Online Media offers general principles that apply to GBV reporting but does not go far enough. “It does not address GBV-specific challenges such as socio-historical contextualisation and authentic community representation.”

Her analysis highlights key issues in how GBV is covered, including the lack of content warnings alerting audiences to potentially distressing content, the exclusion of survivor and community voices, and limited attention to prevention.

She believes these gaps reflect “a gap in journalists’ understanding of the nuanced context” surrounding GBV. This includes limited understanding of how to interview survivors ethically, how reporting may impact them, and how systemic issues such as race, class and gender intersect with violence.

To address this, she recommends that the framework she proposed in her master’s research be incorporated into journalism education and used to inform institutional and professional ethical guidelines.

The aim would be to shift the focus from incident-based to context-informed reporting. For instance, instead of only reporting that a woman was murdered by her partner (incident-based), a context-informed report would explore patterns of domestic abuse in that region, systemic failures in police or court responses, survivor or community testimony, and expert commentary on prevention.

Elsje-Marié suggests that with a broader, more contextualised view of GBV, the media can play a more constructive role in addressing the scourge in South Africa.

Elsje-Marié Jordaan highlights the need for a shift in how gender-based violence is reported in South African media.