Media coverage of male violence against women is deficient

Examining the need for specialist reporters

Three weeks ago, the media’s failure to report men’s violence against women ethically or knowledgably was once again a topic of feverish discussion on social media. It has died down since then, but it will be back because that failure is built into the structures of all Australian media outlets.

In case you were lucky enough to avoid it, Brittany Higgins was, as she has been for years now, the focus of (mostly male) journalist’s assumption that a woman’s allegation that a man raped her is only newsworthy if it’s sensationalised (aka dehumanised), politically useful, or ideologically polarising.

There’s nothing new or surprising about the approach.

Outdated traditions of a male-dominated industry were never designed to report the causes and effects of men’s violence with any expertise or analysis; and despite a lot of movement, not much has changed. “Serious Important Journalism” is still divided into politics, business, sport, global affairs, special investigations, lifestyle (aka women…