Media Coverage of Gender based violence in Malawi. A case study of the Nation newspaper

Bernard Kankhono

• Publisher: GRIN Verlag
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9783346322371
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Communication Studies
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2020 in the subject Communications - Miscellaneous, language: English, abstract: This study analyses how the print media covers gender based violence. The print media has the advantage of making a longer impact on the minds of the reader with more in-depth reporting and analysis of issues, including those to do with gender based violence. Using copies of The Nation Newspaper for the period of three months, the study analysed how the stories in the newspaper covered gender based violence.Using copies of "The Nation Newspaper" for the period of three months, the study analysed how the stories in the newspaper covered gender based violence. The study findings showed that there is low coverage on GBV in "The Nation Newspaper" and that the priority is not given to the GBV articles as there is small space given to the articles. It was also found that GBV articles are not prioritised in terms of placement and that sexual violence is a common type of GBV in the articles. Following the findings, the study therefore recommends that more space should be given to GBV stories and prioritising them by giving enough space to the stories and placing some of the stories on front pages. This will help to stop the malpractice and stops the negative effects that come with it. Gender based violence (GBV) is defined as any harm or suffering that is perpetrated against a woman or girl, man or boy and that has a negative impact on the physical, sexual or psychological health, development or identity of the person. The root cause of GBV is gender based power inequalities and gender based discrimination. GBV occurs across all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, and in many societies, including Malawi. Women are socialized to accept, tolerate, and even rationalize domestic violence and to remain silent about such experiences.