Construction of women in media: A critical discourse analysis on violence against women in newspaper

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the textual construction, discursive practices, and sociocultural practices of violence against women in several Indonesian newspapers. We used library method, observation, and notetaking to gather the data. We then employed a critical discourse analysis to look at how violence against women are discursively represented in those selected newspapers. The results showed that (1) Indonesian newspapers construct their news by using active voice to explain the detailed gender-based violence cases and to represent that women as victims are weak and submissive; (2) discursive representation in Indonesian newspapers encompasses institutional networks that include journalists, editors, directors, and publishers which decide the framing of the news; (3) the socio-cultural contexts beyond the media also influence how discursive representation is framed. The construction of media discourses of gender-based violence portrays women as weak and victimized.