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What You See is What They Want You to See: South African Newspaper Constructions of Female Offenders
Although female-perpetrated crime is a significant minority of overall crime statistics, the media are ready to capitalise on these stories and often resort to sensationalist reporting which results in the misrepresentation of female criminality. Many researchers have highlighted how the media portr...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Public Law
2023
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| _version_ | 1867614307052683264 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | van Zijl, Carla |
| author2 | Moult, Kelley |
| author_browse | Moult, Kelley van Zijl, Carla |
| author_facet | Moult, Kelley van Zijl, Carla |
| author_sort | van Zijl, Carla |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Although female-perpetrated crime is a significant minority of overall crime statistics, the media are ready to capitalise on these stories and often resort to sensationalist reporting which results in the misrepresentation of female criminality. Many researchers have highlighted how the media portrays woman offenders and their stories and the effects of such portrayals, however, this has not been done in South Africa. This study aimed to identify how South African newspapers construct female perpetrators and how this may change across different crime types. Thematic analysis was applied to a sample of 160 newspaper articles covering the stories of 24 female offenders representing four different crime types. It was found that South African newspapers used at least 10 different narratives to depict women in conflict with the law. Additionally, it was found that South African newspapers sensationalised the stories of female offenders of violent crimes and crimes against children more than perpetrators of financial and drug-related crimes. The study concludes that South African newspapers reinforce gender-role stereotyping and perpetuate the misrepresentation of female offenders thereby influencing news consumers' perceptions and beliefs about female criminality. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37040 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:49:57.588Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Department of Public Law |
| publisherStr | Department of Public Law |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37040 What You See is What They Want You to See: South African Newspaper Constructions of Female Offenders van Zijl, Carla Moult, Kelley Media and crime female offenders media portrayals sensationalism gender stereotyping Although female-perpetrated crime is a significant minority of overall crime statistics, the media are ready to capitalise on these stories and often resort to sensationalist reporting which results in the misrepresentation of female criminality. Many researchers have highlighted how the media portrays woman offenders and their stories and the effects of such portrayals, however, this has not been done in South Africa. This study aimed to identify how South African newspapers construct female perpetrators and how this may change across different crime types. Thematic analysis was applied to a sample of 160 newspaper articles covering the stories of 24 female offenders representing four different crime types. It was found that South African newspapers used at least 10 different narratives to depict women in conflict with the law. Additionally, it was found that South African newspapers sensationalised the stories of female offenders of violent crimes and crimes against children more than perpetrators of financial and drug-related crimes. The study concludes that South African newspapers reinforce gender-role stereotyping and perpetuate the misrepresentation of female offenders thereby influencing news consumers' perceptions and beliefs about female criminality. 2023-02-23T11:47:39Z 2023-02-23T11:47:39Z 2022 2023-02-21T07:27:00Z Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37040 eng application/pdf Department of Public Law Faculty of Law |
| spellingShingle | Media and crime female offenders media portrayals sensationalism gender stereotyping van Zijl, Carla What You See is What They Want You to See: South African Newspaper Constructions of Female Offenders |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | What You See is What They Want You to See: South African Newspaper Constructions of Female Offenders |
| title_full | What You See is What They Want You to See: South African Newspaper Constructions of Female Offenders |
| title_fullStr | What You See is What They Want You to See: South African Newspaper Constructions of Female Offenders |
| title_full_unstemmed | What You See is What They Want You to See: South African Newspaper Constructions of Female Offenders |
| title_short | What You See is What They Want You to See: South African Newspaper Constructions of Female Offenders |
| title_sort | what you see is what they want you to see south african newspaper constructions of female offenders |
| topic | Media and crime female offenders media portrayals sensationalism gender stereotyping |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37040 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vanzijlcarla whatyouseeiswhattheywantyoutoseesouthafricannewspaperconstructionsoffemaleoffenders |