72
Copyright © 2022, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Chapter 4
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-9187-1.ch004
ABSTRACT
Femicides are topics frequently covered by the media, and journalists use diferent frames when reporting
on such lethal acts of violence against women. This chapter addresses the media coverage and fram-
ing in German online press articles of two femicides with victims of Romanian ethnicity. The research
presented used as methodology thematic content analysis, along with media framing analysis. In the
chapter, the results of this study are discussed, that is, the characteristics of media coverage and content
related to the killings of the two Romanian women in the German press are analysed, the main frames
used by the media in their reporting on the femicides are pointed out, and the extent to which journalists
use in their narratives techniques of blaming the victims is examined. Moreover, the chapter investigates
whether the media report the crimes against women as singular facts or address them in the broader
context of social problems, and contribute, in this way, to the increase of public awareness and social
responsibility towards them.
INTRODUCTION
The diagnosis and solution of social problems depends on their awareness and recognition as such by
the community (Blumer, 1986). The media is in a position to play a vital role in the process of defining
social problems at a given time, because by addressing certain issues and presenting them in certain
frames and settings, they contribute to shaping social perceptions of social issues (Ștefănescu, 2005).
Public problems revolve around private problems when the experiences of individuals are understood as
Framing Femicide:
An Analysis of Online Media
Reporting on Romanian Immigrant
Women Killed in Germany
Simona Rodat
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2916-7002
Adventus University, Romania