May 26, 2022

The Balkan media’s flawed reporting of femicides

topic:	Women's rights
located:	Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
editor:	Katarina Panić

Last week, the Serbian women's rights organisation FemPlatz organised a panel discussion called "Femicide in the media: Steps towards ethical reporting," which gathered activists, experts and journalists from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. The panellists agreed that the media has to educate more, report continuously, not occasionally, and explain the broader context of violence against women.

Patriarchy, as a typical framework mentality for most countries, produces prejudices and stereotypes. 

"If let's say, the husband comes home from work and attacks his wife because she was chatting on her phone, such a situation is usually described in detail in the media to justify his behaviour," Nada Koprivica from a Montenegro women helpline said. The media further nourishes the most primitive stereotypes, such as by purporting that a woman should “welcome her husband home with a prepared lunch since he is tired.” 

"Another phenomenon is the depersonalisation of women if children are involved. For instance, ‘a mother of five was killed, or a woman was killed in front of her children’. Once the children are in [the picture], the woman disappears from the story," Koprivica added. 

Azra Berbić, a lawyer from Bosnia and Herzegovina, noted that the media often chooses to interview the perpetrator's friends, relatives, and neighbours, usually capturing their shock and surprise given the perpetrator’s public appearance. The sentiment of these comments lead to relativisation. Another ambush is romanticisation when reporters suggest that the male perpetrator committed a crime out of love; that “he loved her so much that he was ready to die for her, out of jealousy,” etc.

Serbian journalist Jelena Hrnjak explained that one major problem victims often face is the violation of their privacy by the media when their information is leaked by legal or medical institutions. 

“The ethical codex of journalism states that if public institutions make a mistake, it does not grant permission to violate ethical principles of the journalistic profession. Most journalists think the opposite,” she added.  

Dunja Bonacci Skenderović from Croatia argued that sensationalism often prevails and the topic of femicide is often tabloidised for having a high click-bait potential.

She states that cases of these kind are “usually news for one day” but that “no reasons, causes, or consequences are explained by the media.”

The Serbian government inaugurated May 18th as the National Day of Remembrance for Women Victims of Violence in 2017 in memory of that date in 2015 when seven women were killed in domestic violence incidents within three days.

Image by David von Diemar

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