Re-constructing the news: an examination of print news media representations of murder-suicides in Ireland

The representation of the phenomenon of murder-suicide garners multi-faceted constructions. Building on previous international research, this study examines how the print news media construct cases of murder-suicide in Ireland. Using a methodological framework informed by framing theory, ethnographic methods and discourse analysis, it examines coverage in various facets of construction: content, production, and audience reception. Social constructionism is employed as the chief theoretical framework underpinned by five separate yet related theories, the Hierarchy of Influences, Ethical Theory, Framing, Critical Discourse Analysis and Collective Action Framing. Findings show murder-suicides were presented as being rooted in mental health problems, financial debt and indirect victim blaming, which served to reduce perpetrator culpability. A default construction of only reporting the facts that aligned with the story template, and referring to incidents as singular, exceptional, and unexpected, with no connection to broader aspects of gendered violence or the wider social context were also found. Biases in reporting were linked to class and ethnicity and a pattern of othering of marginalised groups, whilst source-strategies failed to challenge the patriarchal system within which the violence occurred. News media professionals’’ sense of duty to the public and to provide a full and frank disclosure of information, outweighed their responsibility to any guide or code of ethics in the context of covering cases of murder-suicide, whilst audience reaction to reporting was met with a defensive attitude towards critiques of this representation. These discursive patterns contributed to an overall explanatory framework which was couched in preferred narratives and root the cause of the events in selective hypotheses which serves to naturalise extreme violence as a response to it.

Findings here raise questions on whose interests are best served by this type of coverage and the implications for not only how murder-suicide is constructed but how journalists construct meaning-making through their prism of objectivity. Furthermore, the study reveals that how news media professionals’ perceive their duty to their news organisation supersedes how they perceive their duty to their audience. Their priority was to construct and populate media templates which would fulfil their infotainment role. In the context of an increasingly competitive commercial environment, it is questionable whether there is a desire for principled reflection or unprofitable decisions. Their lack of reflexivity in noting that there may be multiple, and sometimes competing and uncertain, realities to be considered when constructing these cases, was evident. Given that the role of the print news media has been recognised at policy level in Ireland1 , examining their construction of murder-suicides is an important area of inquiry, particularly in relation to how they can re-think and reform their reporting on this issue.