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As a society, we fail to understand that domestic abuse is a public health problem.

And if we fail to see it as a public health issue, then we fail to take a preventative approach. Level Up created the Dignity for Dead Women campaign, which aims to change the way the press reports on fatal domestic abuse.

We developed media guidelines, backed by press regulators, for newsrooms to follow when reporting on gender-based violence. This is because the way news organisations report on the deaths of women directly influences public understandings of domestic abuse – and how we can prevent it.

Leading criminologist Jane Monckton-Smith’s research shows that men on trial for killing their partners are likely to get a lighter sentence if they reference “love”. And why wouldn’t they, when sympathetic headlines describe perpetrators of violence as ‘jilted lovers’, ‘hubbies’, and one of the most common – a devoted ‘family man’.

These headlines reinforce a victim-blaming undercurrent throughout our media, often framing the murder as triggered by the woman’s actions – e.g. ‘Hubby guilty of murdering his wife after row over her affair’. This blames the victim for their own death.

These headlines are particularly harrowing when you look at the wider context – that women are most commonly killed after separating from a partner, 72% of them are killed within six months.

Context is key. Every week, two women are murdered by a partner or ex-partner. Yet in the press, femicides are reported as out of the blue, isolated incidents, rather than situated in a national and international context.

If journalists are equipped to understand the realities of gender-based violence, they can be part of the solution to a violence that is pervasive – but preventable.

If you want to sign up to Level Up’s free trainings for newsrooms, please email hello@welevelup.org

By Helena Wadia
Journalist and Media Trainer, Level Up

About Helena Wadia

Helena Wadia is a multimedia journalist and presenter. She is the co-host of Media Storm, the award-winning news and current affairs podcast which elevates the voices of minority communities typically missing in mainstream news coverage, and promotes media literacy. She also works with Level Up, delivering trainings to newsrooms on how to report responsibly on domestic abuse. She has previously worked for London Live, the Evening Standard, NME, BBC Asian Network and more.

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