Prevention Through Awareness: Media speaking over domestic violence topic

Just over half of all media coverage of domestic or gender-based violence strictly sticks to the facts provided by the responsible institutions (police, prosecutor’s office, court, etc.). These news do not contain emotion or any attitude, no matter what the information tone is – positive or negative.

The share of publications that trivialize the topic is unexpectedly high, focusing on the scandalous or shocking side of the cases covered. In these articles, journalists emphasize details that have nothing to do with the essence of the problem.

Only 5% of the articles can be considered as quality journalistic materials, because they look at the situation in its depth and strive to analyze it. The authors of these materials look for the real causes that led to the problem and possible ways to solve it.

Only 10 of the more than 7,000 articles describing cases of domestic or gender-based violence within a year argue that violence is in fact normal or inevitable. Although the share of these materials is extremely small, their very presence in the media environment can be considered as a worrisome signal.

This publication was created with the financial support of the Operator of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area. The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the Intelday Foundation and under no circumstances can be taken this document to reflect the official opinion of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism and the Operator of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria.