from OAITH:
This analysis reviews 150 articles reporting on femicide cases from national, local and television news sources in Ontario. Utilizing a heat map visualization tool, purple and red diamonds identify the positive and negative frames identified in the various media reports for each of the 62 women and children killed in Ontario, where men have been charged or deemed responsible through cases of femicide-suicide.
Key Highlights 2022 2023 Annual Femicide Media Analysis
- Nearly half (45%) of all local sources included a positive picture of the victim and approximately one quarter (23%) of local sources humanized the victim within their news coverage
- 16% of local news sources labelled the case as a form of gender based-violence (intimate partner violence, domestic violence) with 5% of local sources explicitly labeling the killing as a femicide
- Out of 62 femicides identified in mainstream news, 55% (or 34 cases) received no national news coverage
- National sources had the largest proportion of cases in which the killing was labelled as a femicide or as a result of GBV (18%)
- TV sources were the most likely to provide help information related to GBV services with 8% of all reports including some form of help info to gender-based violence services
- TV sources were the least likely to have an overreliance on traditional voices of authority (62%), and most often included other sources of information, including family, friends, community-based services and gender based violence (GBV) experts
A more in-depth review of the overall themes and our analysis will be released in 2024 through our Annual Femicide Analysis Report. This report offers a more comprehensive analysis of femicides as a gendered social problem, systemic barriers that are emerging and recommendations needed for system change. We thank you for your continued support and engagement with local media partners on this issue.
Resources
2022 2023 Annual Femicide Media Analysis
2022 2023 Annual Femicide List
Annual Media Analysis Reports 2016 to 2023
Femicide is commonly defined as the intentional murder of women because they are women. OAITH’s femicide definition includes a gender-based killing of a woman, child, trans woman, 2-Spirited Person, or gender non-conforming individual where a man has been charged in relation to the death.
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