The Prejudices of Portrayal: A Study of Femicide Reporting in Select Indian Newspapers

This paper seeks to compare and contrast the prominent cases of femicide both before and after the Delhi rape case, which has become a turning point in the history of reporting. This is an attempt to explore through content analysis of prominent daily newspapers how specific languages and discourses chosen by the news media speak of the dominant patriarchal coverage in the media and also question the problematic representations of femicide. This paper can be analysed in two parts, where part one is the theoretical framework on the concept of femicide and part two is the comparison of language and presentation, both before and after the Delhi rape case. The objective is to highlight how the Delhi rape case has ushered in changes to the entire focus on women-related crimes, the positioning and prominence given to such stories now, as well as the wanting changes that may better the current trends in reporting women-related crimes.