Gender-Based Violence ‘Matters’: An Analysis of Conflicting Frames of Violence in South African Media

Abstract

Gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa continues to be a critical issue affecting the society. It is deeply entrenched within patriarchal structures shaped by historical injustices of colonialism and apartheid. Despite several legislative and policy initiatives aimed at addressing the scourge of GBV, media representations often perpetuate traditional gender stereotypes and biased narratives. Evidence from previous studies highlights the role of media in reinforcing gender inequalities by frequently sensationalizing violence and victim-blaming, thereby marginalizing the experiences of women. This paper contributes to ongoing debates on media framing by critically examining contemporary South African media narratives on GBV. The study will employ a framing analysis approach to scrutinize the key frames utilized by South African media in reporting GBV, drawing from significant scholarly works and news articles from IOL on GBV. Three empirical questions guide this study: (i) What frames are prevalent in media coverage of GBV in post-pandemic South Africa? (ii) Are there identifiable biases within these media narratives? (iii) How do media representations either reinforce or challenge entrenched patriarchal discourses? Analysis of selected news articles reveals persistent media practices that reinforce gender-biased stereotypes and diminish women’s agency and lived realities. Despite notable examples of counter-discourses emerging through digital activism, traditional media channels often undermine progressive efforts, perpetuating the perception that GBV remains inadequately addressed. This paper underscores the urgent need for more nuanced and transformative media practices that challenge systemic gender inequalities and promote genuine societal change in South Africa’s evolving post-apartheid context. The paper explores the growing GBV matters in the post-apartheid South Africa as presented in the media and argues that GBV matters. The paper pays particular attention to the inclusion and framing of women’s perspectives in the coverage of GBV in South Africa.

1. Introduction

Background to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in South Africa

Gender-based violence (GBV) remains one of South Africa’s most entrenched social crises, deeply entrenched in the colonial legacies of apartheid that institutionalized racialised patriarchy. As Mbunyuza-Memani (2017) observes, the apartheid state not only legitimised racial oppression but also reinforced patriarchal systems that structured women as subordinate, relegating them to the margins of political, economic, and social life (p. 22). These systems of domination continue to persist in post-apartheid society, where GBV disproportionately affects women and girls, normalising violence as a form of social regulation. Thusi (2024) underscores this continuity, arguing that GBV against Black women reflects “narrative and physical continuities of the historical dynamics of power and domination” that remain deeply embedded in South Africa’s socio-political order (p. 5).

The current prevalence of GBV is alarming. Between January and March 2025, the South African Police Service (SAPS) recorded 28,000 cases of domestic violence (SAPS 2025). The country also has one of the world’s highest femicide rates, with women five times more likely to be murdered by intimate partners than the global average (Cai 2023, p. 2). This violence extends beyond physical harm; it undermines women’s social, economic, and political participation. Grace (2021), reflecting on broader African contexts, notes that patriarchal ideologies, reinforced by customs and religious practices, “have been ingrained in the subconscious mind of the average African man,” producing widespread normalisation of violence (p. 405). This normalisation explains why, despite progressive laws, GBV remains both pervasive and underreported, as stigma, fear, and social attitudes inhibit disclosure and justice-seeking (Grace 2021, p. 406). The persistence of GBV thus signals not merely a failure of state protection but also the entrenchment of historical and cultural narratives that perpetuate inequality.

Media as a Site of Power and Representation

Media plays a critical role in shaping how societies understand and respond to GBV, acting as a key site where patriarchal narratives are reinforced or contested. As Buiten and Naidoo (2016) demonstrate, South African media coverage often “reinforces dominant patriarchal discourses” through sensationalist reporting and victim-blaming frames that strip women of agency (p. 152). This tendency reflects broader global patterns. Bagai and Faimau (2021), in their study of Botswana print media, found that female victims of intimate partner homicide were routinely infantilised and blamed for their victimhood, with coverage framed around men’s loss of control rather than women’s lived realities (p. 20). Such practices illustrate how media reporting reproduces gender inequality by embedding patriarchal ideology within everyday narratives.

Moreover, GBV coverage often marginalises women’s voices. Thusi (2024) notes that South African media frequently centres perpetrators or sensational elements of cases, thereby “decentering Black women from their own stories” (p. 6). Jwili (2020) reinforces this notion, observing that the media tends to construct women as “passive recipients of violence” rather than as agents with perspectives and experiences (p. 45). This exclusion not only silences women but also normalises discourses that trivialise GBV. However, as Maeneche (2023) argues, these representational practices are not neutral; they constitute “barriers to transformative discourse” that could otherwise mobilize societal change (p. 14). Therefore this paper argues that the media operates not simply as a reflector of reality but as a constitutive force that can either reproduce entrenched inequalities or provide platforms for resistance.

Research Problem and Rationale

Despite South Africa’s comprehensive legal and policy framework, including the Domestic Violence Act (1998) amended in 2021 (Act 14), the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (2020) which all serve as legal bases for protecting survivors, holding perpetrators accountable and preventing future violence, GBV persists at epidemic levels. Scholars attribute this paradox in part to the media’s complicity in reproducing harmful stereotypes. Mbunyuza-Memani (2017) stresses that without challenging dominant media framings, policy interventions risk becoming symbolic rather than transformative (p. 28). In the post-pandemic context, this challenge has greatly intensified. During COVID-19 lockdowns, GBV cases surged dramatically, especially in South Africa (N. J. Dlamini 2021; Ndlovu et al. 2022), yet media reporting often relied on sensationalist headlines that failed to engage with the structural drivers of violence (Shange 2023, p. 11). The pandemic highlighted how crises exacerbate women’s vulnerability while simultaneously exposing the limitations of media in amplifying their voices.

At the same time, digital spaces have opened possibilities for counter-discourses. Akala (2018) highlights how feminist and youth movements have used online platforms to challenge patriarchal silences and demand accountability in GBV cases (p. 67). Similarly, Maeneche (2023) observes that while mainstream media often lags in its framing of GBV, digital activism has carved out new terrains where women’s perspectives are more visible (p. 18). These developments reveal a tension: while traditional media remains a powerful site for entrenching harmful discourses, emerging digital activism demonstrates the potential for more inclusive and transformative narratives. This paper is premised on investigating this tension between reproduction and resistance. To achieve this end, this paper addresses three interrelated questions namely:

• What frames are prevalent in media coverage of GBV in post-pandemic South Africa?
• Are there identifiable biases within these media narratives?
• How do media representations either reinforce or challenge entrenched patriarchal discourses, particularly with regard to women’s perspectives and lived experiences?

The critical interrogation of these questions allows the paper to contribute towards broader debates on gender justice, media responsibility, and the urgency of bringing women’s voices to the centre in South Africa’s evolving post-apartheid, post-pandemic context.

2. Literature Review: Media, Gender, and Power in African Contexts

The relationship between media, gender, and power in Africa has been marked by structural inequalities deeply rooted in patriarchy, political culture, and historical legacies of colonialism. In South Africa, for instance, Falkof (2019, p. 161) demonstrates how the coverage of the Anene Booysen murder revealed the competing narratives between feminist activists and sensationalist media, highlighting how patriarchal framings often dilute the seriousness of gender-based violence (GBV). This aligns with Mlotshwa’s (2021, p. 237) broader argument that “the media are male,” as newsrooms continue to be dominated by masculinist discourses that marginalize women’s experiences across the globe. Such insights are critical for situating African cases like Botswana and Zimbabwe, where the media simultaneously reflect and reproduce gender hierarchies, thereby shaping societal perceptions of women’s victimhood, agency, and representation.

In Zimbabwe, scholarship highlights a consistent pattern of problematic media framings of gender-based violence and femicide. Ndhlovu (2020, p. 805) argues that Zimbabwean newspapers such as The Herald and NewsDay failed in their watchdog role by reducing reports of religious rape to “churnalism,” merely recycling court proceedings without interrogating systemic power imbalances. Similarly, Musoko (2024, p. 112) finds that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zimbabwean media framed GBV primarily as a private domestic issue, downplaying its structural drivers and policy implications. This is echoed by Tshuma et al. (2022, p. 270), who contend that COVID-19 media discourses in Zimbabwe often reinforced gendered stereotypes, portraying women as passive victims rather than as active political subjects. These framings stand in contrast to Olaitan’s (2024, p. 147) argument that GBV and femicide must be understood as matters of substantive women’s political representation, linking violence directly to systemic exclusion in African politics. Collectively, these studies underscore how Zimbabwean media discourses have often obscured the political dimensions of GBV, privileging depoliticized narratives that normalize women’s vulnerability.

In Botswana, media and religious framings of gender intersect in unique ways. Bagai and Faimau (2021, p. 13) show how Pentecostal-charismatic churches employ media discourses that reinforce patriarchal moralities, framing women as guardians of morality but simultaneously as sources of moral decay. Such representations resonate with Landa and Zhou’s (2020, p. 45) findings that Batswana media narratives often situate women within cultural discourses of respectability, which restrict their capacity to challenge patriarchal authority. These symbolic constructions are not merely rhetorical; they have implications for how gendered violence is reported and understood. Nyamah’s (2020, p. 88) study on the representation of African women in digital spaces emphasizes that Botswana’s mainstream media remain constrained by elite-driven agendas that silence feminist critiques, thereby perpetuating structural inequalities. These findings suggest that while Botswana has a relatively stable political climate compared to Zimbabwe, its media systems remain embedded within patriarchal cultural frameworks that limit critical reporting on gender justice.

The African media landscape demonstrates that gendered power relations are not only symbolic but also political. Olaitan (2024, p. 150) argues that femicide in African contexts represents a barrier to substantive representation, illustrating how violence against women serves as a mechanism of political exclusion. This resonates with Shange (2023, p. 57), who highlights how South African newsrooms’ political and cultural biases shape the coverage of gender and leadership, often trivializing women leaders. Grace (2021, p. 24) similarly observes that African women’s voices remain marginalized in national debates, as media often reinforce patriarchal authority rather than challenging it. When examined through the Zimbabwean and Batswana case studies, these arguments demonstrate that the media serve as both sites of contestation and reproduction of patriarchy, simultaneously providing platforms for feminist advocacy while also entrenching gendered silences.

The COVID-19 pandemic further illuminated the ways African media construct gendered vulnerabilities. It has been noted that across sub-Saharan Africa (including Zimbabwe and Botswana) COVID-19 reporting was marked by both innovative public health communication and authoritarian restrictions on press freedom. Within this context, women’s experiences of GBV intensified, but media discourses often failed to link these experiences to systemic inequalities (Tshuma et al. 2022, p. 269). Fairbairn et al. (2023, p. 556) argue that international shifts in media representation of femicide toward “primary prevention” have not been fully embraced in African contexts, where femicide is frequently individualized rather than politicized. In Zimbabwe, Musoko (2024, p. 118) illustrates how lockdown-related GBV was framed as a “shadow pandemic” but was often depoliticized in mainstream media narratives. This gap between global feminist discourses and African media framings reveals the persistence of entrenched patriarchal ideologies even amidst global advocacy for structural recognition of femicide and GBV.

Media Framing of GBV and Women’s Perspectives in Post-Pandemic South Africa

Media framing plays a critical role in shaping societal understandings of gender-based violence (GBV), particularly in South Africa where historical and structural inequalities underpin contemporary discourses. Research highlights that the dominant frames often rely on sensationalism, episodic storytelling, and victim-blaming, thereby obscuring the systemic and patriarchal roots of GBV (Falkof 2019, p. 162). For instance, coverage of the Anene Booysen case revealed how competing narratives between sensationalist detail and feminist critique positioned the victim either as a tragic symbol of national failure or as an object of voyeuristic fascination, reproducing harmful stereotypes rather than dismantling them (Falkof 2019, p. 170). Similarly, Karabo Mokoena’s death “attracted extraordinary attention in the South African media” (CSA&G 2017); however, her death was framed in ideologies that produce and reproduce the structures that enable GBV (Media Monitoring Africa 2022).

The post-pandemic context intensified these patterns. Buqa (2022, p. 3) observes that under COVID-19 lockdown regulations, GBV surged, with over 9500 cases reported in a three-month period. However, mainstream reporting frequently adopted what Peterman et al. (2020, p. 4) call “shadow pandemic framing” which depicts GBV as an unfortunate side-effect of lockdown rather than as a structural issue tied to patriarchy and inequality. This episodic framing narrows public understanding by reducing GBV to isolated domestic incidents rather than recognising it as a continuum of violence embedded in power relations.

Moreover, femicide as a category often receives distorted representation. Fairbairn et al. (2023, p. 555) argue that while global discourses are increasingly shifting toward understanding femicide as a preventable public health and human rights crisis, South African media has lagged in adopting prevention-centred frames. Instead, reports frequently cast femicide as “crimes of passion,” undermining the agency of women and obscuring systemic failures in protection and justice. This pattern aligns with findings from Lindfors (2023, p. 35), who demonstrates that post-pandemic civil society activism often clashed with conservative media narratives that sought to downplay institutional accountability for GBV.

Digital media introduced counter-discourses; however, these have been uneven. Power and Khumalo (2024, p. 101) emphasise that online spaces became critical in amplifying women’s voices, with campaigns such as #AmINext, #MenAreTrash, #EndRapeCulture, and #MeToo offering alternative framings that foreground survivors’ agency and structural critique. However, online platforms were also sites of harassment and misogyny, which often overshadowed or delegitimised women’s narratives. Singh and Matthew (2023, p. 19) further note that women journalists reporting on GBV face targeted abuse, which influences both their reporting practices and editorial decisions, thus indirectly shaping frames that reach the public. The prevalent frames in post-pandemic GBV coverage remain dominated by episodic, sensational, and patriarchally inflected narratives. Nevertheless, feminist digital activism has provided emergent counter-frames that centre women’s lived realities and demand accountability.

3. Theoretical Framework

3.1. Framing Theory

Framing theory provides a critical lens for understanding how the media selects, emphasizes, and organizes information to shape public meaning. Entman (1993, p. 52) classically defined framing as the process of selecting aspects of a perceived reality and making them “more salient in a communicating text.” This framework is particularly useful for examining GBV reporting, where the choice of frame influences whether violence is seen as a private incident, a sensational crime, or a systemic social problem. As Buiten and Naidoo (2016, p. 453) argue in the South African context, media frames often reduce GBV to “isolated events devoid of broader social context,” which obscures structural drivers such as patriarchy and inequality.

Post-pandemic studies reinforce this critique. Peterman et al. (2020, p. 2) highlight how COVID-19 media reporting framed GBV as a “shadow pandemic,” inadvertently reinforcing its exceptionalism rather than its entrenched normality. Similarly, Musoko (2024, p. 118) demonstrates that Zimbabwean coverage during the pandemic often adopted domestic or familial frames, diminishing the political and structural dimensions of GBV. Within South Africa, Fluks et al. (2024, p. 7) show that frames are not neutral but stratified by race and class: cases involving Black working-class women are routinized and normalized, while middle-class women’s experiences receive empathetic and prevention-oriented coverage. Framing theory is thus central to this study because it allows for systematic interrogation of what frames dominate GBV reporting in South Africa and whose perspectives are foregrounded or omitted. Importantly, it provides the analytical language to uncover how media frames either reinforce patriarchal common sense or, conversely, open space for structural critique and feminist advocacy.

3.2. Feminist Media Theory

While framing theory highlights processes of selection and emphasis, feminist media theory interrogates how gendered power relations shape those processes and their outcomes. As Mlotshwa (2021, p. 237) argues, “the media are male”: newsroom cultures and reporting conventions are steeped in masculinist norms that marginalize women’s experiences. Feminist media theory foregrounds how these norms manifest in symbolic annihilation (the absence or trivialisation of women’s voices), victim-blaming tropes, and gendered stereotypes. For example, Falkof (2019, p. 161) demonstrates how coverage of Anene Booysen’s murder sensationalised her body while sidelining feminist analyses of structural violence. This reflects what Blumell and Mulupi (2022, p. 13) identify more broadly as the “systematic silencing of women journalists and sources” in African media, where women are often positioned as emotional subjects rather than analytical authorities. Tran (2023, p. 2157) adds that women defenders in environmental conflicts are discursively constructed as “desperate mothers” or “underdogs,” reducing their political agency. These examples highlight how patriarchal filters structure both the inclusion and framing of women in news narratives.

Feminist media theory draws attention to counter-publics and resistant practices. Lindfors (2023, p. 41) shows how the #TotalShutdown and #AmINext campaigns reframed GBV as a systemic crisis by centering women’s testimonies and analyses, directly challenging mainstream patriarchal framings. Power and Khumalo (2024, p. 101) emphasise the role of digital spaces as sites where women can exercise epistemic authority, despite ongoing online harassment. These insights align with Thusi’s (2024) call for a decolonial feminist epistemology that re-centres Black women’s voices in knowledge production and media representation. Feminist media theory is therefore indispensable for this study: it ensures that analysis does not merely identify frames but interrogates how those frames reflect patriarchal hierarchies, racialised power, and exclusions, while also highlighting sites of resistance and feminist reframing.

3.3. Application to the Study

Integrating framing theory and feminist media theory provides a robust analytical scaffolding for this study. Framing theory allows systematic identification of the narrative devices, emphases, and omissions that structure GBV coverage. Feminist media theory contextualizes those frames within broader systems of patriarchy, race, and postcolonial power, with particular attention to whether women’s perspectives are silenced, trivialized, or amplified. By combining these approaches, this study can address its key research questions. This integrated framework thus ensures the analysis is not only descriptive (what frames exist) but also critical (how those frames perpetuate or resist systemic inequalities). It is especially applicable to the South African context, where the intersections of colonial legacies, patriarchy, and media culture require theoretical tools attuned both to structural critique and to possibilities for feminist transformation.

4. Methodology

4.1. Research Design

This study adopts a qualitative research design, specifically a framing analysis of South African media representations of gender-based violence (GBV). Qualitative approaches are most suitable for uncovering the symbolic, discursive, and power-laden aspects of media narratives because they allow for depth of interpretation beyond surface-level textual features (Cai 2023, p. 135; Braun and Clarke 2019, p. 591). As Buiten and Naidoo (2016, p. 453) emphasize, GBV media research must interrogate “the cultural meanings and frames through which violence is made sense of,” making framing analysis an appropriate methodological strategy. By situating the analysis within feminist media theory and framing theory, the study moves beyond descriptive accounts to critically interrogate how media texts include or silence women’s perspectives, and whether such coverage reinforces or challenges patriarchal discourses. Tran (2023, p. 2152) underscores that feminist critical discourse approaches are vital to “identify discursive violence” in reporting, while Thusi (2024) highlights the importance of centering Black women’s epistemic voices in research design.

4.2. Sampling Strategy

A purposive sampling strategy was employed to select a corpus of news articles. Purposive sampling is justified here because it ensures the inclusion of texts most relevant to the study’s aims rather than relying on randomization, which may obscure thematic depth (Selles 2020, p. 17). Specifically, articles were drawn from a mainstream South African news platform, Independent Online (IOL) which was launched in July 1999 (IOL 2000). It is ranked second on South Africa’s top 10 online publications by daily readership with 308,000 daily readers, which translates to millions of monthly readers (MyBroadband 2025; News24 2025). IOL also hosts the digital versions of the following print publications: The Star, Cape Times, Cape Argus, The Mercury, Daily News, Sunday Tribune, The Independent on Saturday, The Sunday Independent and The Post, all owned by the Independent Media Group (IOL 2025). IOL acts as an online repository of these newspapers and therefore provided a comprehensive pool of data and served as a major platform for sourcing data from multiple news sources across different provinces of South Africa. IOL publishes stories independently; however, news articles on the IOL site are not sorted by publication but by categories such as politics business, entertainment, sports, etc., which are standard news categories worldwide (Hågvar 2012). Thus, the search for articles used in the data for this study was not done or treated separately.

The sampling period covers April–July 2025, which reflects the post-pandemic context where GBV is widely recognized as a “shadow pandemic” or the second pandemic, post COVID-19 (Peterman et al. 2020, p. 2; Musoko 2024, p. 118). This timeframe also coincides with heightened activism and visibility not only of GBV but also violence against children. By including the digital outlet of traditional media, the sampling strategy allows for an in-depth review of dominant mainstream framings and discourse pushed into the public, digitally and traditionally in print.

4.3. Data Collection

Articles (554) were retrieved using an online database and keyword searches, employing terms such as “gender-based violence,” “GBV,” “femicide,” and “shadow pandemic.” Inclusion criteria required that articles (i) explicitly discuss GBV incidents or debates in South Africa, (ii) feature representations of women either as victims, survivors, or commentators, and (iii) fall within the April–July 2025 timeframe. Exclusion criteria removed pieces that only tangentially referenced GBV (e.g., policy summaries without cases), and those outside South Africa or by foreign news agencies such as Agence France-Press (AFP). Also excluded were repetitions of the same story line, by the same author, published in two or more of the IOL publications on the same day or a day or two apart. For example, the story by Mandilakhe Tshwete of the body of a missing 7-year-old being found in Khayelitsha. The story was published by Cape Argus, as well as by IOL. Another example is Siyabonga Sithole’s article on SA’s unemployment breeding sexual exploitation and GBVF among young women, published by both Cape Argus and IOL news on 19 June 2025. After applying the exclusion criteria, the main data reviewed in this study consisted of 250 stories.

Framing analysis was applied to the data. This approach aligns with established feminist media research practices that foreground women’s visibility and representation as criteria for inclusion (Falkof 2019, p. 162; Blumell and Mulupi 2022, p. 13). It also ensures a systematic focus on cases where women’s perspectives can be analysed in relation to broader frames of patriarchy, power, and resistance.

4.4. Data Analysis

The study employs a framing analysis informed by feminist critical discourse analysis. Following Entman’s (1993, p. 52) definition, frames were identified by examining how media texts define problems, attribute causality, make moral judgments, and suggest remedies. This aligns with Buiten and Naidoo’s (2016, p. 453) call to move beyond descriptive content analysis toward interpretive approaches that foreground ideology and power.

Analysis followed Braun and Clarke’s (2019, p. 591) six-step thematic process: (i) familiarization with the data, (ii) initial coding, (iii) generating themes, (iv) reviewing themes, (v) defining and naming themes, and (vi) producing the report. Codes were inductively generated from the data but interpreted through the dual theoretical lenses of framing and feminist media theory. This hybrid approach allowed for identifying dominant frames (RQ1), biases within those frames (RQ2), and the reinforcement or disruption of patriarchal discourses (RQ3).

Women’s perspectives were treated as a distinct analytic category, meaning the analysis prioritized instances where women’s voices were quoted, paraphrased, or absent. As Khanlou et al. (2022, p. 9) argue, survivor-centred analysis prevents “secondary victimization” by ensuring that women’s epistemic authority is foregrounded. Likewise, Tran (2023, p. 2157) stresses the need to expose “discursive violence” where women are stripped of analytical roles and reduced to emotional signifiers.

4.5. Trustworthiness and Rigor

Qualitative trustworthiness was maintained through reflexivity, and transparency in coding. First, reflexivity was maintained by acknowledging the researchers’ positionality as scholars of peace and gender studies; as Boonzaier (2023, p. 4) notes, feminist research requires constant reflection on how knowledge is produced in relation to patriarchal structures. Second, transparency was ensured by maintaining a coding log and audit trail. This follows recommendations by Singh and Matthew (2023, p. 19), who highlight the importance of methodological rigor in gendered media studies to counter accusations of subjectivity. Reliability was further supported by inter-coder checks with a research assistant to validate the consistency of themes, in line with Fluks et al. (2024, p. 7).

4.6. Ethical Considerations

Although the study analyses publicly available media texts, ethical sensitivity is vital because GBV involves survivors’ lived traumas. As Buqa (2022, p. 8) argues, GBV discourse should “refuse to excuse male behaviour while creating space for women’s agency.” Thus, survivor narratives were treated with respect, and any identifiable personal details beyond public record were omitted. Following Lindfors (2023, p. 61), the study also acknowledged the risk of reproducing trauma through analysis and therefore prioritized survivor-centred frames in interpretation. Moreover, the ethical stance draws on Thusi’s (2024) call for a decolonial feminist ethic that re-centres Black women’s voices not as symbolic objects but as authoritative sources of knowledge. By embedding ethics within both data collection and analysis, the study avoids contributing to the silencing or sensationalizing tendencies it critiques.

5. Results

This study set out to explore how IOL media coverage (April–July 2025) frames GBV in South Africa, and to evaluate how such coverage reflects biases and engages (or fails to engage) patriarchal discourses. Guided by framing theory (Entman 1993; Iyengar 1991) and feminist media theory (van Zoonen 1994; Gallagher 2014), the analysis identified six key themes: GBV as a Criminal-Justice Event, Victimhood and Vulnerability, Patriarchal Denials and Excuses, Institutional Betrayals, Agency and Resistance, and Media Sensationalism and Outrage. These themes highlight how dominant frames structure media narratives and how they simultaneously reproduce, and, in some cases, resist entrenched patriarchal ideologies.

5.1. GBV as a Criminal-Justice Event

One of the strongest patterns in the dataset is the framing of GBV as a matter for the criminal justice system. News articles repeatedly emphasise arrests, trials, and sentencing as the central storylines. This aligns with global findings that GBV is often reduced to a legal problem, positioning courts, police, and prosecutors as the principal actors while muting survivors’ voices.

For example, one report stated:

The Pretoria Magistrates’ Court has sentenced 32-year-old Thabo Xolani Masoka to life imprisonment for raping an 11-year-old girl with Down syndrome…. the NPA welcomed the life imprisonment handed down by the court noting that it underscores our (NPA’s) resolute stance that no one is above the law, especially when it comes to gender-based violence against defenceless victims.

(Maromo 2025h, 30 July, IOL)

Others further described:

Life sentences for Boschfontein man who raped nine-year-old girl, and Greedy groom raped bride’s minor relative at his wedding celebrations in Limpopo… J88 medical reports confirmed the assaults… Again in both cases, the NPA welcomed the sentences, reaffirming its dedication to justice for gender-based violence victims and building safer communities.

(Booysen 2025e, 30 July, IOL)

A KwaZulu-Natal case highlighted the judicial voice:

Joza Saps opened a case of murder after a 42-year-old female was assaulted and later succumbed to her wounds on March 29, 2025. It is alleged that the woman was brought to hospital by her boyfriend for medical attention after she was severely assaulted by unknown assailants. The victim succumbed to the injuries and was certified dead at Settlers hospital…. We demand action against these perpetrators who are not afraid of anything. They know that either they will never be arrested, or they will be imprisoned for a short time and after a few years they will be back and rape and kill again. The statistics easily showcase that fact. Killing women and children is an abomination and it must be stopped at all costs.

(Daniels 2025, 16 April, IOL)

GBV as a criminal justice event was also described as a pandemic. For example:

When handing down the sentence, the acting regional magistrate Pierre Wessels said VAW and children is a pandemic in this county, and it was the duty of the courts to combat such offences.

(Booysen 2025d, 31 July, IOL)

As South Africa continues to grapple with another pandemic—gender-based violence (GBV), we cannot celebrate Youth Month without remembering our murdered young women… In Bloemfontein, a 51-year-old man was sentenced for raping his 10-year-old niece. In East London, 32-year-old Lwando Sfiso Phike was convicted on eight counts of rape, four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and one count of attempted rape. In KwaZulu-Natal, 57-year-old Rogers Perumah received two life sentences after he was convicted of raping and killing a nine-year-old girl in March 2024.

(Francke 2025d, 15 June, IOL)

Although, violence against and children is always described as a pandemic especially in the post COVID-19 narratives, the women experiencing violence are often excluded from media coverage or sourced for contribution in the articles. The media thus silences victims of violence and reinforces that, patriarchal control is not only in the abuses women face or the judiciary, but even in the media, which often mutes them.

Routine trial coverage in the data often cited prosecutors in the descriptions of the case, commentary and judgements handed down. The extracts below refer:

According to the spokesperson of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the Northern Cape, Mojalefa Senokoatsane, the victim realised that she had been raped and that her cellphone, lighter, and cigarettes had been stolen. “Louw was positively linked to the crime through DNA evidence,” Senokoatsane added… Senokoatsane said the NPA commends the work of the investigating officers, the prosecution team, and all those who contributed to securing justice in this case. “The NPA reiterates its commitment to relentlessly prosecuting crimes of gender-based violence, particularly against women and children. These crimes infringe on the constitutional rights to dignity, security, and privacy, and the NPA will continue to act without fear, favour, or prejudice in ensuring justice is served.”

(Zondi 2025, 19 July, IOL)

Justice served: KZN man receives life sentence for murdering secret girlfriend. The Vryheid Regional Court sentenced Innocent Fanyane Dubazane on Friday for the murder of Nonsikelelo Nqobile Xaba. NPA regional spokesperson, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said, the pair were in a secret relationship and the deceased body was discovered in a ditch in the C section of Mlondo, covered with a duvet and shade netting… The NPA remains committed to our fight against gender-based violence and femicide. There is no place in our society for perpetrators of such cruelty. We will continue to prioritise these cases and ensure that justice is delivered swiftly and decisively.”

(Singh 2025, 28 June, IOL)

These quotations show how institutional authority dominates the narrative. The NPA, medical reports, and judges become the main storytellers. Survivors are represented indirectly, either as subjects of medical evidence or as nameless victims in court proceedings. Even in cases involving horrific abuse, their own words or perspectives rarely appear. The framing privileges the spectacle of law rather than the lived experience of violence. Such framing has significant implications: while it signals that GBV is given serious attention by the justice system, it also narrows public understanding of GBV to crime-and-punishment. This obscures the structural causes and erases survivor perspectives. As Buiten and Naidoo (2016) argue, such framing transforms GBV into an episodic legal matter, undermining feminist demands for systemic recognition.

5.2. Victimhood and Vulnerability

A second recurring theme in the data is the construction of women and girls as helpless victims. Coverage repeatedly highlights their vulnerability due to age, disability, or frailty. While these framings are often intended to provoke sympathy, they risk reinforcing stereotypes of women as powerless dependents.

For instance, one article reported that:

Jane Makekema, a resident of Evaton in the Vaal, said she no longer feels safe attending church. “I used to go to church to find peace, now I fear it’s where the most damage is done.”

(Mkwananzi 2025b, 21 July, IOL)

Another described:

Pastor Thabiso Mongatane as sentenced for raping a vulnerable woman during steaming session… Provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Malesela Ledwaba, said the woman was sexually assaulted at Masodi village, in September 2022. Ledwaba said the pastor “abused his powers” when he raped the vulnerable woman, after he convinced her to believe that she had a certain condition which needed spiritual intervention.

(Maromo 2025f, 9 April, IOL)

Vulnerability was further underscored in the shocking account whereby:

a high school teacher in Mitchell’s Plain accused of raping his minor daughter for four years returned to work after the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) arbitration found him not guilty… The case was provisionally struck off the roll, because the child was not psychologically and emotionally ready for her testimony.

(Serra 2025c, 7 July, IOL)

Similarly, extreme violence against women was captured in a story on the brutal attack of two school girls in a Northern Cape village by Thabo Gift Magwatane and three accomplices. For instance:

The incident is described as a night of terror where the matric learners were robbed in their residence, stripped, blindfolded, led into the veld nude, repeatedly raped by all three men and stabbed multiple times across their upper bodies… The NPA calls for increased vigilance to protect learners and vulnerable populations…

(Morgan 2025, 23 June, IOL)

In the Northern Cape at the Garies Regional Court, Darryl Joseph (34) was sentenced after facing a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to his 17-year-old girlfriend. On the day of the attack, Joseph brutally assaulted her with a dropper pole, striking her face and body while verbally degrading her. In a desperate attempt to shield herself, the complainant grabbed her friend, using her as protection against the blows. Her friend managed to escape, fearing for her safety. The attack left her with multiple injuries, including severe facial fractures requiring surgical intervention.

(Booysen 2025a, 2 April, IOL)

NPA regional spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, “said between November 1, 2018, and November 18, 2018, the 53-year-old victim went missing from her home in TV Trust, KaBokweni. A missing persons file was opened. Nine days after her disappearance, the victim managed to steal the accused’s phone and called her sister, telling her that she was locked up at the accused’s place and that she needed help.” The victim was found severely malnourished and traumatized.

(Dondolo 2025b, 8 May, IOL)

Civil society organisations and community members in Khayelitsha have voiced outrage over the decision to grant bail to a man accused of the kidnapping and repeated rape of 20-year-old Ongeziwe Poni, a promising young boxer. According to the victim’s statement, she was attacked at knifepoint and raped multiple times in separate locations, including a public toilet, an open field and a shack where she was held overnight.

(Tshwete 2025, 18 June, IOL)

In another case,

Tlotlano Simon Monnatshitlo was sentenced to life by the Atamelang Regional court for raping an 82-year-old woman. By the time the trial commenced, the victim had passed away; consequently, conviction was based on the dead complainant’s hearsay evidence, testimony from two state witnesses, and a DNA report that positively identified him.

(Mthembu 2025b, 25 April, IOL)

The Plettenberg Bay Regional Court has sentenced Siyamcela Yali to 15 years imprisonment for the horrific rape of his ex-girlfriend (relationship ended 8 years prior). Yali accosted the victim as she left her boyfriend’s house, violently grabbed her and dragged her into the bushes. Armed with a knife, Yali threatened to stab her if she made any noise. He forced her to undress and began to physically assault her with a stick. The victim complied out of fear, and the ordeal lasted for six harrowing hours, during which Yali took breaks to smoke and continued to assault her.

(Francke 2025c, 3 June, IOL)

In other cases, GBV is described not only in violent terms, but the judicial commentary often refers to the victims as vulnerable. For example:

Daniel Sekunelo Togole, 57, was one of a trio of masked men who carried out a robbery and accosted the rape victim and friends. DNA proved the rape… In his ruling, Magistrate Ndade Maphango acknowledged the aggravating circumstances of the case. He ruled that the accused showed no remorse and targeted a vulnerable person, being a woman.

(Booysen 2025h, 21 May, IOL)

In another ruling of assault by Alexi Bizos’s against his former wife, Magistrate Twala stated,

You cannot ignore that this was a vulnerable woman who was in the safety of her own home when she was assaulted.

(Venter 2025, 20 May, IOL)

The above cases show how narratives foreground victim helplessness. The emphasis lies on the inability of children, disabled women, young or elderly women to defend themselves. Survivors are often positioned as silent, their presence limited to being acted upon. While these portrayals may generate outrage, they do so at the cost of reducing women to passive bodies of suffering.

Interpreting these narratives through feminist media theory, they represent what George Gerbner calls ‘symbolic annihilation’ whereby women are depicted not as agents but as passive subjects (Gerbner 1972, p. 45; Tuchman 1978; Jwili 2020; Aldamen 2023). The term symbolic annihilation was first coined by Gerbner (1972) speaking of the absence, trivialization and condemnation of certain groups such as women or minorities renders them socially invalid. The term was popularized by Gaye Tuchman through the acclaimed chapter titled, ‘The symbolic annihilation of women by the mass media’ which further situates the erasure of women and their depiction as passive objects in the media (Tuchman 1978). Their vulnerability becomes the defining characteristic, leaving little room for their perspectives or resilience. The pattern reveals how patriarchal norms permeate into reporting by normalising the portrayals of women as helpless and dependent on others for justice. The implication of such a finding is that repeated framing of women as vulnerable reinforces societal perceptions of women as naturally weak and in need of protection. This approach risks perpetuating paternalistic discourses and limiting recognition of women’s agency. Media therefore play a role not just in reporting violence but in reproducing gendered hierarchies of power.

5.3. Patriarchal Denials and Excuses

A striking finding in the dataset is how perpetrators’ excuses and denials are foregrounded in reporting. Even when implausible or offensive, such claims often appear in headlines, granting patriarchal rationalisations public visibility. This normalises cultural scripts that excuse men and trivialise women’s suffering.

In cases of rape, sexual abuse or sexual assault, perpetrators insisted that the sexual acts were consensual. For example:

Thabo Xolani Masoka was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping an 11-year-old girl with Down syndrome. Masoka pleaded not guilty to the heinous crime against the child. He insisted that the child was his girlfriend, and they had consensual sex. Masoka claimed in court that he believed the victim was 17 years old.

(Maromo 2025i, 31 July, IOL)

In another case:

Lungile Buhlungu, a serial rapist from Delft who instilled fear in the women of his community by turning it into his hunting ground between 2014–2019, was sentenced to the maximum penalty by the Western Cape High Court. Buhlungu, a father of six, pleaded not guilty to all charges and claimed he was in Pollsmoor prison in 2014 when the rapes took place. He also denied raping another woman in 2017, and insisted the sex was consensual as it took place at his shack. He also claimed consent was given to him to have sex with the women in 2018. He further denied robbing the victims of their cell phones and told the court that he’d want to meet the victims one day and tell them they were wrong as he had not raped them.

(Francke 2025b, 19 June, IOL)

Cheslyn Matroos, 41, was sentenced in Gqeberha Regional Court to two life sentences plus 22 years for gender-based violence (GBV) related crimes (rape, attempted rape, assault and kidnapping) against his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend. Matroos denied allegations and claimed the sexual acts were consensual, asserting that they were still in a relationship and that the complainant had willingly accompanied him to his house.

(Booysen 2025i, 3 May, IOL)

In some cases, perpetrators of violence sought to conceal their actions, tried to deflect cases, cited being provoked and also claimed to be victims. Below are some excerpts:

The accused cleaned blood from the victim’s privates parts with an orange gauze bag to conceal his actions. In a further attempt to evade accountability, he opened a false criminal case against the victim’s now-deceased stepfather, deflecting suspicion from himself.

(Booysen 2025g, 14 July, IOL)

A 28-year-old man was arrested by police in Cacadu Extension in the Eastern Cape on Sunday, April 27, following allegations of rape and attempted rape during a family traditional ceremony. The family immediately summoned elders, during which the suspect reportedly pleaded with them not to alert police, stating that he was already attending court for another rape case.

(Dondolo 2025a, 29 April, IOL)

In other similar cases,

a former police sergeant, Thembalethu Gqeku, was sentenced to 20 yrs for a raping teenager inside the police station where she had gone to report a domestic violence case against her ex-boyfriend. Gqeku maintained his innocence, contending that he was the victim of an assault, alleging that the young woman was under the influence of drugs.

(Keteyi 2025, 11 May, IOL)

A man who beat and kicked his partner to death in an alcohol-induced rage will continue to serve his 20 years imprisonment term after his appeal against his sentence failed in the Western Cape High Court. The repeat offender, who had previously also served a prison sentence for murder, argued that he was provoked and could not foresee the death of his girlfriend after the violent assault, which occurred after a night where the couple had consumed alcohol.

(Booysen 2025c, 26 June, IOL)

Familiar excuses such as underage children, familial financial obligations and job security also appear consistently in the data as arguments for leniency. For instance:

In case where a father raped his daughter for a decade since she was 9 and forced her to terminate his pregnancy at age 16, during sentencing, the father requested leniency, citing his role as a breadwinner for his wife (not the girl’s mother), three other children, and two granddaughters.

(Booysen 2025d, 31 July, IOL)

The Atteridgeville Magistrate’s Court in Pretoria has denied bail to a 55-year-old Zimbabwean national based in Saulsville, who was charged with three counts of raping his landlord’s 12-year-old daughter…During the bail hearing, the accused, through his legal representation, asked to be released on bail, claiming that the state’s case was weak and citing his responsibilities to support his six children. He further stated that, as a self-employed individual, detention would hinder his outcome and ability to afford legal fees,” said Mahanjana (NPA Gauteng regional spokesperson).

(Maromo 2025g, 17 July, IOL)

Mulero Nyangero was sentenced to life for rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances against a female runner from Pretoria West. During sentencing proceedings, Nyangero asked the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentences because he is married and has two minor children that he needs to provide and care for.

(Maromo 2025i, 16 May, IOL)

Each of the above evidence reveals how perpetrators are positioned as deserving empathy or mitigation. The defence strategies draw on patriarchal logics: fatherhood, breadwinning, intoxication, and ignorance are invoked as justifications. The survivors’ harm is backgrounded while male rationalisations are amplified.

From a feminist perspective, these excuses embody patriarchal minimisation of GBV. Grace (2021) highlights how patriarchal ideologies legitimise violence by framing men’s actions as excusable. When media reproduce these defences without critique, they risk validating a culture of impunity. This creates discursive violence, where survivors’ pain is trivialised by the circulation of perpetrators’ excuses. This has profound implications, particularly considering that media do not simply report GBV; they can reproduce the very cultural narratives that shape and enable it. By amplifying perpetrators’ denials, the press risks shifting sympathy away from survivors. This undermines accountability and reinforces patriarchal entitlement.

5.4. Institutional Betrayals

Another prominent theme is the exposure of institutional failures. Many articles critique police negligence, weak bail systems, and judicial shortcomings. These betrayals are framed as systemic injustices that compound survivors’ suffering.

For example:

The court ruling exposed systemic failures in tackling gender-based violence in Belhar. The judge ordered an investigation into police negligence.

(Booysen 2025b, 25 July, IOL)

In another story where a family seeks justice for daughter who succumbed to suicide after being kidnapped and gang raped, the sister is quoted saying:

We feel the police are letting us down. All the evidence has been handed over to them, yet the suspects have not been arrested. They keep saying they are still investigating or they ignore us. We don’t know what they are investigating.

(Vilakazi 2025, 18 June, IOL)

In another case,

a Joburg woman witnessed in her neighbourhood park a homeless woman carrying a child being attacked by another homeless man. Her calls for assistance with the police were unsuccessful and SAPS 10111 emergencies failed to log the call… “Survivors continue to encounter police stations that are unresponsive, dismissive, or ill-equipped to provide immediate and effective assistance. The failure to properly record and investigate GBV cases undermines survivors’ rights and perpetuates a culture of impunity,” said Monakali.

(Sithole 2025c, 11 June, IOL)

Institutional betrayal also speaks to how the system routinely fails survivors of gender-based violence. For instance:

Civil society organisations and community members in Khayelitsha have voiced outrage over the decision to grant bail to a man accused of the kidnapping and repeated rape of 20-year-old Ongeziwe Poni, a promising young boxer… Despite the severity of the allegations, the investigation has been marked by a disturbing lack of urgency and seriousness,” said Ilitha Labantu spokesperson Siyabulela Monakali. “Such failures by law enforcement not only compromise the integrity of the case but send a demoralising message to survivors about the state’s commitment to justice.

(Tshwete 2025, 18 June, IOL)

The case of Timoty Omotoso, founder of Jesus Dominion International, gripped the country for nearly eight years. He was acquitted in April 2025 on 32 counts, including rape, human trafficking, and racketeering… The acquittal triggered a wave of public outrage, with gender-rights organisations and civil society groups accusing the justice system of failing survivors and protecting powerful religious leaders.

(Mkwananzi 2025b, 21 July, IOL)

The above quote was based on a story on the rape of a 14-year-old girl at a church in Limpopo by a 40-year-old pastor, but it became more about the scandals involving religious leaders. It cited the ongoing case of rape and sexual assault against Bishop Bafana Stephen Zondo, head of Rivers of Living Waters Ministries, and Timoty Omotoso as quoted above. The story goes beyond citing judicial betrayal, but that which occurs in religious spaces/betrayal by religious leaders and institutions.

The acquittal of Nigerian Televangelist Timothy Omotoso and his two co-accused by the Eastern Cape High Court led to outrage over the failure of the justice system to victims of GBV. The South African Rights Commissions—3 key Chapter Nine Institutions: The Cultural, Religious and Linguistics (CRL) Rights Commission, The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), and The South African Human Rights Commission (SARHC) all announced plans to launch inquiries into the case. Civil society was outraged and also called for heads to roll in the NPA. The Ministry of Justice demanded a report detailing what led to the acquittal after the 8-year trial. NPA itself also sought to appeal the ruling. During the period under study, the Omotoso articles centered on the failure and betrayal by the justice system to GBV victims, with an increase in coverage of this, especially in April–May 2025. This systemic failure was also decried in the judicial handling of GBV cases nationwide.

These sentiments reveal a consistent storyline whereby institutions themselves become the focus of critique. The betrayal is not only the act of violence but the failure of state systems to prevent or respond adequately. However, it is notable that survivors rarely articulate this critique; instead, judges, NGOs, or communities speak on their behalf.

This reflects Thusi’s (2024) critique that survivors are decentred even in discourses about their suffering. Their experiences are mediated through institutional voices, leaving them dependent on external actors to articulate injustice. While this draws attention to systemic shortcomings, it does so without empowering survivors as narrators. This finding implicates the state institutions in sustaining GBV through neglect or negligence. However, by filtering survivor experiences through external voices, the media reinforces a hierarchy of authority. Survivors remain positioned as reliant on saviours: whether judges, civil society, or community leaders, perpetuating their discursive disempowerment.

5.5. Agency and Resistance

Although less common, some reporting highlights women’s agency and resistance. These stories disrupt dominant frames of victimhood by portraying women as active subjects who resist violence and demand accountability.

For instance:

“Lerato Kganyago takes a stand against stalkers: ‘I will not live in fear.’ Media personality and Metro FM presenter Lerato Kganyago revealed that she has been a target of an ongoing stalking campaign by thugs, some who were allegedly accompanied by police officers…”I will always look and sound happy because that’s what keeps me alive in spirit. My fear? My fear is worn out. I do not fear anymore,” she wrote defiantly.

(Pasiya 2025, 30 July, IOL)

Similarly, award winning artist, Makhadzi (real name Ndivhudzannyi Ralivhona), opened up about her traumatic experiences of GBV at the hands of her boyfriend. This prompted critical dialogue on domestic violence in the country. She stated;

Whatever I posted is not a mistake. I just deleted some pictures to avoid being blocked by Facebook. I will go live today at 18:00 to explain the story. I know a lot of people will judge me, but I have made my mind up about that… I am here ready without fear, ready to die because living with a secret that someone nearly killed me hits me more than anything. He beat me to impress his family.

(Cele 2025, 30 June, IOL)

The victims of the Nigerian televangelist Timothy Omotoso, speak out following his recent acquittal.

“You violated our bodies, our trust, our safety, and our peace. You may think you’ve gotten away with it, but you haven’t, because we are still speaking the truth… We carry the pain every day, but we also carry strength. This is not just a story of being hurt, it’s a story of surviving. You don’t get to silence us,” said Sarah Mofokeng, one of the women allegedly sexually assaulted by Omotoso.

(Majadibodu 2025, 17 April, IOL)

In another case,

Media personality Minnie Dlamini rejected MacG’s apology: vowed legal action, calling MacG’s remarks vile, degrading and utterly unjustifiable: “An apology, offered only after the damage is done and reputations are on the line, is not a meaningful act of accountability, especially when it comes from a platform that has made misogyny part of its brand. This was not a lapse in judgment. It was a reflection of values consistently displayed and defended by the show and its host. I will continue to pursue legal recourse. Because as a public figure and a mother, I must act not only for myself but for every woman whose dignity is violated in the name of content and entertainment.”

(Mkwananzi 2025a, 13 May, IOL)

KZN DG Dr. Nonhlanhla Mkhize breaks silence after GBV incident and resignation retraction: Director General in the Office of the Premier in KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize (the first woman to hold post in KZN since 1994) issued a public statement on her recent resignation and her subsequent retraction, after what she describes a traumatic act of workplace gender-based violence… She plans to pursue legal action to seek redress, describing the lack of institutional response as further victimisation. “The silence, the absence of empathy, and the immediate disconnection from all means of communication make one thing clear: the system was never built to protect women like me,” she said. “To the women still inside these broken systems: I see you. I believe you. You are not alone,” she added.

(Jacobs 2025, 20 June, IOL)

The females above refused to stay silent, but spoke out, thus, claiming their agency and shaping the narrative of their abuse in their own terms. These narratives foreground women’s epistemic authority. Instead of being spoken for, survivors and activists speak directly, framing their experiences as a source of knowledge and power. Such reporting aligns with the concept of feminist counter-publics, where women’s testimonies disrupt patriarchal silencing (Fraser 1990). Interpretively, these examples are significant because they break with dominant patterns of passivity. Celebrity interventions, NGO activism, and digital campaigns show women exercising agency, not only as survivors but as public intellectuals diagnosing systemic injustice. They reframe GBV as a structural crisis rather than isolated tragedies. Such counter-discourses offer a pathway to transformation. Though limited in number, these stories highlight how media can amplify women’s voices in ways that challenge patriarchy. If more consistently adopted, this framing could reshape societal understandings of GBV and centre survivor perspectives in national debates.

5.6. Media Sensationalism and Outrage

The dataset demonstrates the prevalence of sensationalist reporting. Headlines frequently use lurid or emotive descriptors to dramatize GBV. This framing provokes outrage but risks depoliticising violence by presenting it as aberrant horror.

For instance:

“Mamelodi Horror: Father raped daughter for a decade, forced her to terminate pregnancy.”

(Maromo 2025d, 31 July, IOL)

Trial of Alleged Thembisa Serial Rapist Sipho Phiri Continues in Benoni High Court.

(Mahlangu 2025, 24 June, IOL)

Gruesome article 10, headline screamed:

“Cape Town man brutally assaulted estranged wife, forcing her to eat her own flesh.”

(Masiela 2025, 24 July, IOL)

Shock value appeared elsewhere: “Greedy groom raped bride’s minor relative at wedding celebrations.” (Maromo 2025b, 30 July, IOL).

Outrage as teacher accused of raping daughter reinstated amid ongoing trial.

(Serra 2025b, 27 May, IOL)

Trusted and kind uncle turns out to be a ‘serial child abuser’—Witbank in shock.

(Staff Reporter 2025, 24 June, IOL)

Similarly:

“Husband arrested in chilling KwaDukuza murder investigation.”

(IOL Reporter, 31 July 2025, IOL)

Murdered Olorato Mongale went on a date with man driving VW Polo fitted with cloned Toyota Hilux number plate.

(Maromo 2025e, 27 May, IOL)

Chilling effect and sensationalism are also recorded in the following titles:

Limpopo man languishes behind bars after his mother’s dismembered body found in buckets.

(Maromo 2025c, 1 July, IOL)

Life sentence for Limpopo man who attempted to silence rape victim with R4.

(Booysen 2025f, 4 May, IOL)

Mother’s quest for accountability after police captain failed to remove firearm from daughter’s killer: “TWO MONTHS SUSPENSION AN INSULT”

(Khan 2025, 26 June, IOL)

Life sentence for teacher convicted of raping learner during school hours.

(Francke 2025a, 20 May, IOL)

Pastor who robbed and choked female congregant sentenced to 15 years.

(Mthembu 2025c, 11 June, IOL)

Defenceless woman was brutally murdered at Dirkiesdorp while demanding her goat.

(Maromo 2025a, 9 May, IOL)

South Africans demand #JusticeForCwecwe as nationwide protests highlight GBV system failures.

(Ntanzi 2025, 1 April, IOL)

Gender-based violence allegations shake KwaZulu-Natal Premier’s office after DG’s resignation.

(Magubane 2025, 12 June, IOL)

Outrage is also recorded in media framing of GBV as highlighted by the following article titles:

Justice for Cwecwe|South Africans express frustration over slow investigation.

(Mthembu 2025a, 17 April, IOL)

No child should live in fear: The heartbreaking case of Cwecwe and a nation’s cry for justice.

(S. Dlamini 2025, 5 April, IOL)

Outrage as accused rapist and murderer seeks bail again. The man accused of raping and murdering his son’s 8-year-old friend during a sleepover at his house two years ago is applying for bail for a second time as he faces trial in the Western Cape High Court… Candice van der Rheede, of the Western Cape Missing Children’s Unit and GBV activist said: “I am very upset and angry that criminals have a right to redo a bail application and it seems they have more rights than law abiding citizens. I am outraged.”

(Serra 2025a, 26 June, IOL)

Community outraged as family suspects hate crime in murder of Durban Deep pupil Likhona Fose, whose lifeless body was found in the veld in Durban Deep, with her genitals removed. The family suspects it was a hate crime as Likhona identified as a lesbian… Speaking to the grieving family, Mthembu decried the increase in the number of gender-based violence (GBV) cases in the country. “What laws need to be changed in this country so that we can feel protected? Every day, we wake up to something. Who must we apologise to so that this can stop? We can celebrate the country’s democracy, but this democracy is not working for us women because we are the ones who are being killed,” she said.

(Sithole 2025a, 5 June, IOL)

Family and community mourn Olorato Mongale, a victim of gender-based violence.

(Sithole 2025b, 1 June, IOL)

The death of Olorato Mongale engendered outrage, activism and action by law enforcement. Articles that surrounded her death included urgent appeals by police to find suspects, police vowing tough action against GBV, swift police action on apprehension of suspects, police progress, and the rising dangers of online meets ups given that her disappearance was linked to one, and the femicide crisis. Where outrage is recorded, the NPA, MMCs are quick to speak about their commitments to fighting GBV and protecting the most vulnerable. While, outrage is recorded, the institutions are more dominant as they appear to overshadow the cases and stories and speak for the victims and their families.

These quotations illustrate a journalistic style focused on sensationalism. Terms such as ‘horror,’ ‘greedy,’ and ‘chilling’ dramatize violence and commodify women’s suffering. While they may generate emotional responses, they risk reducing GBV to a spectacle rather than situating it within systemic patriarchy. When interpreted through framing theory, such headlines exemplify episodic rather than thematic reporting (Entman 1993). They focus on shocking individual acts while ignoring broader patterns and causes. Feminist critiques (Falkof 2019) argue this strips GBV of political meaning, turning women’s trauma into public entertainment. The finding has a negative effect in that while sensationalist coverage raises awareness and outrage, it fails to generate systemic critique. Instead, it individualises violence and obscures patriarchal structures. This reinforces public perceptions of GBV as abnormal ‘monstrosity’ rather than as entrenched gendered oppression.

6. Discussion

The findings demonstrate that GBV is overwhelmingly framed as a criminal-justice matter. Analysed reports emphasised trials, convictions, and sentences, with institutional actors such as police, prosecutors, and judges cast as central. This reflects Entman’s (1993) observation that frames define problems, attribute causality, and suggest remedies. In the South African context, GBV is defined primarily as a legal violation, attributed to deviant individuals, and remedied through sentencing. Such framing is not unique as Buiten and Naidoo (2016) similarly found that GBV coverage often reproduces “crime story templates” rather than thematic accounts of structural violence. The second dominant frame was victimhood and vulnerability, where women, especially children, elderly women, or women with disabilities, are represented as helpless bodies acted upon by men. This resonates with van Zoonen’s (1994) critique that media frequently construct women as passive victims, reinforcing gender hierarchies. Here, women are depicted not as narrators of their experiences but as silent subjects of pity. Counter-frames were also present, albeit less frequent. Agency and resistance emerged through stories of NGOs, celebrities, and activists who reframed GBV as systemic and demanded accountability. These stories align with Fraser’s (1990) notion of subaltern counter-publics, where marginalised voices create alternative discursive spaces. Finally, media sensationalism and outrage emerged as a frame where GBV was commodified through lurid descriptors (‘horror,’ ‘chilling’). Such episodic framing (Iyengar 1991) individualises violence as monstrous acts, masking its systemic roots. Collectively these frames suggest that while GBV is highly visible in South African media, it is primarily understood through episodic and institutionally driven narratives. Thematic framings that situate GBV within broader patriarchal structures remain underdeveloped.

Biases were evident across the dataset, shaping how GBV was represented and interpreted. Source bias was most visible in the criminal-justice event frame, where institutional voices dominated. Survivors’ perspectives were consistently absent, reflecting Gallagher’s (2014) argument that women’s voices are marginalised in news production. By privileging the voices of police, prosecutors, and judges, media coverage reproduces hierarchies of authority that silence women’s lived experiences. The victimhood and vulnerability frame also reflects representational bias. By repeatedly portraying women as weak, dependent, or defenceless, the media reinforces gender stereotypes that cast women as naturally subordinate. This echoes Tuchman’s (1978) definition of the concept of “symbolic annihilation,” where women are represented in ways that limit their social and political agency. The theme of patriarchal denials and excuses demonstrates ideological bias. Perpetrators’ justifications (claims of consensual sex, intoxication, or breadwinning responsibilities) were reported with little interrogation. As Gavey (2019) argues, such discursive practices normalise male entitlement and shift responsibility away from perpetrators. The media’s repetition of these defences risks legitimising patriarchal rationalisations and undermining survivor credibility. Finally, media sensationalism reflects commercial bias. The reliance on shock and spectacle commodifies women’s suffering, turning GBV into a consumable story that provokes moral outrage but lacks structural critique. This aligns with Falkof’s (2019) critique of South African tabloid culture, where women’s trauma is exploited for sensational impact. Therefore, these biases illustrate how South African GBV reporting remains deeply entangled with patriarchal logics, privileging institutional authority, erasing women’s voices, reproducing stereotypes, and sensationalising trauma.

Most themes highlight reinforcement of patriarchal discourses. Victimhood and vulnerability entrench the idea of women as passive subjects, reinforcing gender hierarchies by silencing their agency. Patriarchal denials and excuses legitimise male entitlement by amplifying perpetrators’ rationalisations, effectively granting them discursive authority. Even institutional betrayals, while exposing systemic failures, frame survivors as dependent on external saviours rather than as actors in their own right. This dynamic reflects van Zoonen’s (1994) argument that media often reproduce patriarchal ideologies under the guise of neutrality. At the same time, the analysis reveals moments of resistance. Agency and resistance stories show survivors, activists, and NGOs speaking in their own voices, reframing GBV as structural and demanding accountability. These counter-discourses create alternative spaces that challenge patriarchal silencing. Similarly, NGO critiques within institutional betrayals disrupt state-centred narratives, highlighting systemic neglect as a feminist issue. This duality illustrates what Lazar (2005) describes as the ambivalence of media discourse: it can simultaneously reproduce patriarchal dominance while also offering openings for resistance. The South African dataset reflects both tendencies, with reproduction far more dominant but resistance emerging as a significant counter current.

The findings illustrate a tension between continuity and change in South African GBV reporting. On the one hand, the dominance of criminal-justice frames, victimhood narratives, and sensationalist reporting reinforces patriarchal discourses, silencing survivors and commodifying their suffering. On the other hand, the presence of resistance frames though less frequent demonstrates the possibility of alternative discourses that centre women’s voices and challenge systemic inequalities. Framing theory helps explain how the media define GBV narrowly as a legal problem or a spectacle, shaping public understanding in ways that obscure its structural roots. Feminist media theory reveals why these biases persist: newsrooms are embedded within patriarchal cultures that reproduce gender hierarchies, even as they report on their consequences. At the same time, feminist counter-publics demonstrate the potential of media spaces to resist and transform dominant narratives. Ultimately, the analysis shows that GBV coverage in South Africa is at a crossroads. While patriarchal frames remain dominant, emergent counter-discourses suggest that more inclusive, survivor-centred, and feminist reporting practices are possible. The challenge for journalists is to move beyond episodic sensationalism and institutional authority, toward thematic reporting that foregrounds survivors’ voices and situates GBV within its structural and patriarchal contexts.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations

This study explored how gender-based violence (GBV) is framed in South African media. The analysis revealed that GBV is primarily framed as a criminal-justice problem, where institutional actors (police, courts, and prosecutors) dominate the narrative while survivors’ voices remain absent. Women are frequently depicted through victimhood frames that emphasise vulnerability, reinforcing patriarchal constructions of female passivity. At the same time, perpetrators’ denials and excuses are circulated uncritically, lending legitimacy to patriarchal rationalisations of violence. Institutional betrayals were highlighted in coverage that exposed failures by the police or courts, yet even these critiques tended to decentre survivors by privileging judges or NGOs as spokespersons. However, the dataset also contained counter-discourses. Stories of agency and resistance, including activism, NGO-led campaigns, and survivor testimony, provided glimpses of feminist reframing. These accounts demonstrate the potential of media to amplify women’s voices and challenge entrenched patriarchal silences. However, such counter-frames were overshadowed by the prevalence of sensationalist coverage, where GBV was commodified as spectacle through lurid headlines and shocking descriptions. The paper concludes that South African GBV reporting remains caught in a tension between reproduction and resistance. While patriarchal discourses continue to dominate media narratives, emergent counter-voices reveal openings for more inclusive, survivor-centred, and feminist approaches to reporting.

From a framing perspective, the study confirms that episodic frames dominate GBV coverage. Cases are presented as isolated crimes rather than thematic accounts of structural violence. Feminist media theory helps explain why: patriarchal cultures of journalism privilege institutional authority, reproduce gender stereotypes, and marginalise women’s epistemic authority. The idea of counter-publics highlights how feminist and activist voices can intervene in these discourses, creating alternative spaces for reframing GBV. The findings therefore underscore the importance of integrating framing and feminist perspectives to understand GBV reporting. Media do not merely reflect social problems; they actively construct meanings that shape how violence is understood, politicised, or trivialised.

As such the paper makes the following recommendations for media practice:

• Centre survivor voices: Journalists should actively include survivors’ perspectives, not only institutional or legal accounts, to counter symbolic silencing. Media should also centre voices of victim’s families, especially in cases of femicide.
• Shift from episodic to thematic frames: Instead of treating GBV as isolated ‘horror stories,’ media should provide ongoing reporting, and contextualise cases within structural patterns of patriarchy, inequality, and systemic failure.
• Avoid amplifying patriarchal excuses: Coverage should interrogate rather than reproduce perpetrators’ denials and justifications, which legitimise patriarchal minimisation of violence.
• Challenge stereotypes of vulnerability: While recognising the seriousness of harm, reporting should resist framing women solely as powerless victims and instead highlight resilience and agency.
• Minimise sensationalism: Journalists should avoid lurid or commodifying headlines that reduce GBV to spectacle and instead adopt trauma-sensitive language.
• Amplify feminist counter-publics: Greater coverage of activism, NGO advocacy, and survivor-led campaigns can reframe GBV as a systemic crisis and foreground women’s collective resistance.

Areas for future research

This study was limited to IOL and did not cover national and international news and other new media technologies; therefore, studies of national and international news and news from various media platforms would add depth to the understanding of GBV in the media. This study also did not interview journalists or news writers which also limited confirmation of gender and how it impacts reporting on GBV. Therefore, we suggest future research to not only look at media narratives based on the text alone, but to also include the voices and persons behind the text to add more nuances to comprehensively unravel GBV and the media.