News Coverage of Violence against Women : Engendering Blame

Marian Meyers explores evidence that shows that news coverage in North American cities routinely depicts criminal violence against females differently from the way it depicts violence against males. She argues that this serves to perpetuate traditional, inegalitarian gender stereotyping.

Using original research and qualitative textual analysis, the author discloses the underlying ideology, myths and assumptions within news coverage, and points out the ways in which news broadcasting affects how we view the world and our lives. Meyers advocates a re-examination of crime news from a feminist perspective and a broadening of traditional understandings of the social construction of news to include issues of gender, race and clas

Marian Meyer′s study sets an immediate standard for research on news coverage of violence against women. The study recognizes that multiple factors--culture, gender, race, socioeconomic issues, journalistic routines, and reporter consciousness--enter into the writing of such news. Meyer′s work is comprehensive in analyzing both print and broadcast news, and her methods are wide-ranging, including textual and structural analyses, and interviewing. I see the usefulness of this book in reporting, theoretical, and methods classes. --Carolyn M. Byerly, Department of Television-Radio, Ithaca College This original new work demonstrates the troubling evidence that news coverage in American cities routinely depicts criminal violence against females differently than males. News Coverage of Violence Against Women discusses this tendency and how it perpetuates traditional, inegalitarian stereotyping about both men and women. Author Marian Meyers combines original research with qualitative textual analysis to disclose the underlying ideology, myths, and assumptions within news coverage, pointing out how news broadcasting affects our view of the world and how we live our lives. She also makes a strong case for the re-examination of crime news from a feminist perspective and for a broadening of traditional understandings of the social construction of news to include issues of gender, race, and class. News Coverage of Violence Against Women is an eye-opening work that will be of great interest to students, researchers, and professionals in a wide range of areas, including communication, media studies, mass communication, sociology, women′s studies, cultural studies, and ethnic and gender studies.