Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Published: |
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613799044874240 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Gool, Kauthar |
| author2 | Botma, Gabriel |
| author_browse | Botma, Gabriel Gool, Kauthar |
| author_facet | Botma, Gabriel Gool, Kauthar |
| author_sort | Gool, Kauthar |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132389 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:41:52.972Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/132389 Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study Gool, Kauthar Botma, Gabriel Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Journalism. Online journalism -- South Africa Gender identity in mass media Victims of crimes Women -- Violence against Digital media Weekend Argus (South Africa) (Online) Selective dissemination of information Criminals Journalism -- South Africa -- Case studies Journalism -- Discourse analysis UCTD Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Gool, K. 2025. Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/2c4c9f67-6430-46d8-b345-756248c9413b ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is an exploratory case study that evaluated how the Weekend Argus Saturday and Sunday editions reported the non-intimate partner femicide incidents of Uyinene Mrwetyana, Jesse Hess, and Meghan Cremer between August and December 2019 online. All three women were murdered in August 2019, which is “Women’s Month” in South Africa, with their cases capturing significant media interest. This work aimed to unearth how the three incidents were reported, and the gatekeeping decisions that affected online news coverage. Additionally, this work endeavoured to discover how each femicide case was framed online. In 2019, both Weekend Argus editions were led by female editors. Therefore, as a secondary research question, the female editorial leaders' influence on the selected femicide incidents was examined. Data was obtained through six partially structured interviews conducted via Microsoft Teams after email engagement. Additionally, online articles by the Weekend Argus Saturday and Sunday editions about the three cases, published between August and December 2019, were evaluated. Frame and thematic analysis were employed to examine the article content and interview data respectively. Gatekeeping and framing theories grounded this work. Gatekeeping theory was employed to observe how editorial policies at the two editions affected the reporting of the three cases, with framing utilised to examine how each femicide incident was contextualised. The study found that news values, such as proximity, timeliness, unexpectedness, fame and elitism, and public outcry were key gatekeeping determinants affecting the reportage of the cases. Regarding the framing of articles, no excessive descriptions of violence were present, little sensationalist language was found in the headlines or body content, and terms related to gender-based violence (GBV) were used but rarely comprehensively explained. Moreover, the three femicide incidents were reported episodically. In many stories, humane, sometimes emotive, language was used. Victims were portrayed as innocent women with their whole lives ahead of them, with the past misdemeanours of the perpetrators emphasised. Race and social class were not significantly accentuated in the stories. However, the construct of “ideal victimhood” was present through the victims being portrayed as defenceless victims who wrongfully had their lives cut short. Lastly, while some participants felt that the female editorial leadership substantially affected how the femicide cases were reported, others did not. Furthermore, from the frame analysis, there was little unambiguous evidence that the women-led teams at the Weekend Argus Saturday and Sunday editions drastically affected how the three cases were covered. Other scholars could develop these results by sampling multiple women-led news outlets and a larger corpus of articles to try and definitively address the influence of gender on femicide news coverage. Alternatively, future academics could conduct comparative analyses of male- and women-led outlets to observe how they report femicide. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geen opsomming beskikbaar nie. Masters 2025-06-05T13:51:55Z 2025-06-05T13:51:55Z 2025-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132389 Stellenbosch University 110 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Online journalism -- South Africa Gender identity in mass media Victims of crimes Women -- Violence against Digital media Weekend Argus (South Africa) (Online) Selective dissemination of information Criminals Journalism -- South Africa -- Case studies Journalism -- Discourse analysis UCTD Gool, Kauthar Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study |
| title | Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study |
| title_full | Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study |
| title_fullStr | Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study |
| title_short | Exploring the coverage of three non-intimate partner femicide incidents in the Weekend Argus’ Saturday and Sunday editions online in 2019 – A case study |
| title_sort | exploring the coverage of three non intimate partner femicide incidents in the weekend argus saturday and sunday editions online in 2019 a case study |
| topic | Online journalism -- South Africa Gender identity in mass media Victims of crimes Women -- Violence against Digital media Weekend Argus (South Africa) (Online) Selective dissemination of information Criminals Journalism -- South Africa -- Case studies Journalism -- Discourse analysis UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/132389 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT goolkauthar exploringthecoverageofthreenonintimatepartnerfemicideincidentsintheweekendargussaturdayandsundayeditionsonlinein2019acasestudy |