“The way that cases are reported has a huge impact on the public’s perception, awareness and understanding of gender-based violence.”

The news media remains a powerful influence when it comes to issues of gender-based violence.

Whether it is sensationalising details, focusing on irrelevant aspects of a story or using passive voice in a report, how journalists and publishers choose to represent these stories can have a long-lasting impact on past, current and future survivors.

To mark International Women’s Day, Impress spoke to Laura Nairn a solicitor for JustRight Scotland and the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre. Here, Laura sets out how reporting of gender-based violence can impact women in the real world and what steps journalists can take to adopt a best-practise approach.

So the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre is a unique collaborative project between Rape Crisis Scotland, JustRight Scotland and the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic. We’re funded by the Scottish Government through the Legal Aid Board and the Legal Education Foundation. Scottish Women’s Rights Centre provide a holistic support model comprising of free legal information, advice, representation, and advocacy support to self-identifying women aged 16 and over in Scotland who are affected by gender-based violence.

Our centre strives to fill the gaps that exist between women’s experiences of gender-based violence and their ability to access justice by working with specialist solicitors and experienced advocacy workers. We’re informed by our direct work with victim-survivors of violence and abuse and we seek to influence national policy, conduct research and training to improve processes and systems, and ultimately improve justice outcomes for women who have experienced gender-based violence.

Gender-based violence is a term that’s used to describe crimes such as rape, domestic abuse, stalking and forced marriage, that are overwhelmingly, but not exclusively, carried out by men against women. It’s a symptom of the historic and current inequalities of power that exist in society. There are many ways that gender-based violence can cause harm. It can be physical, financial, emotional, sexual or cause harm and suffering in other ways. But all forms of gender-based violence have in common is that they stem from and reinforce gender inequality.

The way that cases are reported has a huge impact on the public’s perception, awareness and understanding of gender-based violence. Too often, we still see sensationalised reporting and clickbait headlines, which can include: graphic details or descriptions of the crime; not referring to the crime as what it actually is, either a crime or an alleged crime where that’s appropriate; including irrelevant details about the victim-survivor or the perpetrator, such as their ethnicity; and victim blaming and expressions of sympathy towards the perpetrator.

Victim blaming in particular remains unfortunately common in reporting of gender-based violence cases.

This kind of reporting sustains and increases the prevalence of myths in relation to gender-based violence by placing the blame on victim-survivors and encouraging sympathy towards perpetrators, and this normalises men’s violence against women. It also shows little regard to the victim-survivor, and their friends and family, or the impact that such reporting can have on them and the harm it can cause. For example, from our outreach services, we hear from women who are concerned about the reporting of domestic abuse or sexual crimes in the local area. Women will often feel anxious that people will be talking about them and what’s being reported, and that this might impact them or their children later on in life. We hear from women who are considering moving away from the local area due to these concerns.

Victim blaming in particular remains unfortunately common in reporting of gender-based violence cases. This can be overt and include references to what a victim survivor was wearing, their sexual past, whether they’ve been drinking or who they were with. In domestic abuse cases, it can include questions about why she didn’t just leave, why she’s not picked better men and asking what she’s done to antagonise him. All of this takes away responsibility from the perpetrator and places it onto the survivor.

It’s also common to see sympathy being expressed towards the perpetrator, and this can include what Kate Manne, the philosopher and associate professor of the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University, calls ‘Himpathy’. Himpathy refers to the sympathetic reporting of perpetrators, so the the focus becomes on what the crime they’ve perpetrated means for them in their life. It also often means that the victims are blamed for this disruption of the perpetrator’s life and their account is doubted.

It can also be more subtle than this and displayed through the language which has been used. We often see passive wording and reporting, such as ‘she was raped’ instead of ‘he raped her’, and this has the effect of making the rape seem like an inevitable event and not a violent act that a perpetrator has chosen to carry out, and this again minimises the perpetrator’s responsibility.

We’ve produced a fact sheet called ‘Things to know before disclosing an experience of abuse on social media’. And this contains important information for victim-survivors to consider if they’re thinking about disclosing abuse online. It highlights the potential consequences of making a disclosure such as the subsequent reporting of this by the media, and potential legal consequences such as impacting any court proceedings or an action of defamation being raised.

At the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre, we provide outreach services and our helpline is open to women aged 16 and over living in Scotland who have been affected by gender-based violence. We can also give advice to support workers or other services that are working with women affected by these issues.

Our helpline is the first point of contact to speak about the issues to experienced advocacy workers who handle the initial call. They will assess their needs and provide initial information and support. If they require initial legal information, one of our solicitors will then call them back to discuss this further or arrange a legal advice surgery appointment. The opening times of our helpline can all be found on our website.

We provide outreach services and our helpline is open to women aged 16 and over living in Scotland who have been affected by gender-based violence.

We also have a pro bono helpline which is operated by a network of pro bono solicitors, and that’s available every Tuesday between 6:00 and 8:00 PM for victim survivors to speak directly with a solicitor for any initial advice and information about their situation. If the circumstances are more complex, the solicitor might then make a legal surgery appointment for them. We also offer legal representation for victim-survivors and after a meeting with the victim survivor, if they wish to be considered for legal representation, our legal team will then assess the case and determine if it’s appropriate for a legal take on process.

Our centre is only able to take on a limited number of cases each year, and we prioritise cases that have a positive impact on access to justice for all women affected by gender-based violence. We also focus on cases where there are barriers within the system that prevent women from accessing justice. Our website also contains links to other organisations that can offer support to women experiencing gender-based violence. We also have a solicitor sign-posting network which is made up of solicitors who have completed their two day domestic abuse training and this is another resource that enhances survivors’ access to justice.

We’d encourage any women who’ve experienced gender-based violence and are having media issues or have any concerns about this, to contact our helpline.

So firstly a best-practise approach should avoid the points that I mentioned earlier: not using sensationalised clickbait headlines; not victim blaming or showing sympathy towards the perpetrator; always ensuring that the reporting is accurate and that irrelevant information isn’t included; and, of course ensuring that the reporting complies with the law and doesn’t compromise victim-survivors anonymity when that’s applicable.

A best-practise approach should also be a trauma-informed approach. Adopting a trauma-informed approach aims to minimise re-traumatisation and assist with trauma recovery, by ensuring that the principles of communication and engagement are delivered safely and in line with the key principles of choice, trust, safety, empowerment and collaboration.

We’d also like to see a trauma-informed practise approach be part of the training for journalists so that they’re learning those skills early on

Some key considerations for a trauma informed approach for interviewing victim-survivors include; agreeing the date and time and length of the interview; explaining the process and being transparent with them throughout; ensuring that the questions are agreed in advance; always carefully considering questions and the language used to avoid victim blaming; being mindful of your tone throughout the interview; if the victim-survivor wishes to be anonymous, agreeing and respecting their anonymity, and considering how that can be ensured; where possible, allowing the victim survivor to see a draft before publishing;  ensuring that any practical needs can be accommodated such as breaks or any other requests like that; making sure not to make any promises that you can’t keep; recognising that the survivor may have told their story several times; and if a survivor wishes to have a support person or advocacy worker with them during the interview or in the vicinity, allowing that where that’s possible as well.

Working collaboratively with other organisations is really important in maximising expertise and learning. It’s important to recognise and utilise the fact that different organisations have greater expertise or exposure to different issues and working collaboratively can develop our understanding of these matters. This should then allow for more comprehensive solutions to be developed and implemented and this will benefit victim-survivors, but also society as a whole by improving our understanding and awareness of gender-based violence, its causes and consequences, and why it’s so important to tackle it.

Another benefit of working in collaboration is offering a victim-survivor a holistic service where they’re supported in various areas, which can help to avoid repetition of trauma. An example of this would be by allowing an advocacy worker to be present during interviewing when this is requested. That’s a holistic way of working and it means that the victim-survivor could be better supported during the interview and after as the advocacy worker has been involved throughout the whole process.

We’d like to see that there’s a much wider recognition of the importance of the role the media plays in public perception and awareness of gender-based violence. We’d also like to see recognition that gender inequality is both a cause and consequence of gender-based violence. We’d like to see that victim-survivors are at the centre of reporting and that their legal rights and autonomy is respected, and that they’re treated fairly and with respect throughout all their interactions with the media.

We hope that there’ll be a shift towards prioritising responsible and accurate reporting and an end to sensationalised and clickbait headlines. We’d also like to see a trauma-informed practise approach be part of the training for journalists so that they’re learning those skills early on and during their professional development as this will help address some of the root causes of misrepresentation. I’d also hope to see that the prevalence of victim blaming will reduce and any intentional or unintentional attempts to evoke sympathy towards perpetrators or to excuse their behaviour, will decline. In recognition, the victim-survivors should not be blamed for men’s violence.

We’d also like to see that the widespread harm caused by gender-based violence to victim-survivors and society as a whole is recognised and accurately reflected within reporting.

Laura Nairn is a solicitor at JustRight Scotland working in the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre.

Laura completed her undergraduate degree in Scottish Law and her Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at the University of Glasgow. Laura commenced her traineeship in 2021, spending one year of her traineeship working in the family law department.

She qualified as a solicitor in 2023 and continued advising clients on a range of family law matters, including divorce, child law, cohabitation and protective orders. Throughout this time, Laura has gained experience working with women affected by gender-based violence and developing an understanding of the difficulties survivors face within the legal system and society.

Laura is passionate about increasing access to justice, improving the support and remedies available to survivors and reducing the root causes of gender-based violence.