NEWS MEDIA'S REPRESENTATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT ON CASES OF INTIMATE PARTNER FEMICIDE

Abstract

Despite policy advances and changing public attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV), approximately 743 women were murdered by their current or previous intimate partner in Canada between 2011 and 2021 (Sutton, 2023). News media can play a significant role in shaping public opinions about IPV, including how it ought to be formally and informally responded to (Fairbairn & Dawson, 2013; Gillespie et al., 2013; Kajeepeta et al., 2017). Research has also demonstrated that media representation of law enforcement can impact officer’s understandings of their own occupation (Rantatalo, 2016). Previous studies have investigated news media’s representation of IPV and news media’s representation of law enforcement; however, no research has looked specifically at news media’s representation of law enforcement officers on cases of intimate partner femicide. Given that inaccurate and/or problematic narratives may be a barrier to effective law enforcement responses and reporting, further research is warranted. Using a blended method of reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), the purpose of this study was to answer the following research question: How was law enforcement represented in cases of intimate partner femicide in Albertan newspapers in 2020?