On miscategorized news, and other oddities
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Posted by melissa mcewan July 11th, 2007 |
How Odd!
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: It’s so odd when men (allegedly) murder their spouses (and children) and then stash them in the freezer while hosting a party:
A Belgian man appeared in court on Friday after a woman at his dinner party found the bodies of his wife and stepson in the freezer as she put away the leftovers, prosecutors said.
The woman went to the police after discovering the 46-year-old woman and her 11-year-old son and officers arrested the man in the town of Verviers, near Liege in east Belgium, on Wednesday.
Why, I don’t believe I’ve read anything quite so odd since the man who forcibly branded his wife with his initials on their wedding night. Now that was odd!
[Previously miscategorized “Odd News” here and here.]
Question: What will it take for criminal attacks on women to be reported seriously?
July 11th, 2007 08:13
Absolutely! This is one of my personal peeves (if “peeves” is a strong enough word). I think the first time I noticed it was a couple of years ago when either CNN or Yahoo! put a piece about a woman being stoned to death in their “Offbeat” news section. Because really, why WOULDN’T that story be put alongside stories about two-headed cats and the like?
Now, off to compose an angry letter to Reuters.
July 12th, 2007 14:55
To be fair, impaired senses of humor and just plain poor judgment are a problem that go beyond trivializing lethal violence against women.
I once worked with an editor who was supposed to include a “brite” every day, and who had no sense of humor AND no judgment. She once tried to give “brite” treatment to a story about a (male) patient who died having a routine dental procedure — as I recall. the lead before the aghast copy desk slapped her down was: “Joe Blow expected the tooth fairy. What he got was the Grim Reaper.”
I guess we’d need a scientific survey to determine if crappy news judgment is more likely to be applied to stories involving violence against women.
July 12th, 2007 16:16
Dorothy_P_H - I remember that story, too - it was from Nigeria. I referenced it in my “How to Write a Protest Letter” article for Bitch magazine:
Full article, see here:
http://www.bitchmagazine.org/archives/04_03slash/protest.shtml
Caroline: that editor sounds like a moron. “Tooth fairy v. Grim Reaper”? Damn! But, the issue Melissa raises isn’t whether or not other crime stories aren’t also misreported - she’s simply noting the prevalence of misreporting violence against women. If other genres of stories get miscategorized as well, that’s a problem, too. Journalism should be responsible across the board. There is no excuse for sexist copy or categorization — even if there are also other problems in other sections.