Portrait of Domestic Violence in Botswana: A Case Study of The Voice and Botswana Guardian Newspapers

The overall objective of the study was to determine media
representation of domestic violence in Botswana by paying
particular attention to the coverage of the problem by a tabloid
newspaper À“ The Voice vis a vis a mainstream newspaper À“
Botswana Guardian. The choice was informed by the fact that
tabloids pay particular attention to human-interest stories whereas
mainstream papers tend to focus more on hard news stories.
The usual slant of tabloid coverage has been to titillate audiences
and improve the bottom line. Mainstream papers, on the other
hand, attempt to inform and educate the public and hence the
study aimed to see whether these papers’ coverage of this issue
was consistent with the universal tabloid and mainstream
newspaper tradition. Using content analysis, news stories of
violence in households and relationships were examined over a
five-year period À“ 2002-2006. The findings indicate that men were
still the leading perpetrators of violence against women but other
disturbing facts emerged in that children and women have also
begun to exhibit the same abusive tendencies traditionally
associated with men, amongst other manifestations of this malaise.
It is clear that The Voice’s human-interest brand of journalism
covers a lot of ground with particular emphasis on the sensational.
Moreover, for effect, bold, breathtaking headlines are employed
with pictures to grab attention and make the editions a must read.
However, the Botswana Guardian reports these crimes in a
straightforward and informative manner, presumably to alert
society to the crisis the nation faces. From the findings of this
study, it is apparent that The Voice and Botswana Guardian
newspapers went beyond the call of duty in tabloid and mainstream
newspaper tradition in enlisting in the war against the scourge of
domestic violence.

Publisher: Gender Links
Edition: 4th edition
Year of Publication: 2008
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