The Nexus of Gender-based Violence and Print Media Portrayal: Echoes from Uitenhage, South Africa

Gender Based Violence (GBV) has become a global menace. The prevalence of this violence against women and children in South Africa reveals that the country is plagued by this horror called GBV. According to the South African police crime statistics, with regards to sexual offences, the SAPS reported 64 419 (2012), 66 197 (2014), 62 226 (2013), and 53 617 (2015) cases. A more recent crime report, which covers the period between April 1 2018, and March 31, 2019, reveals an increase of reported GBV cases compared to previous years. The number of reported sexual offences increased to 52,420 in 2018/19 from 50,108 in 2017/18, most of which were cases of rape. The rate of sexual offences increased from 88.3 per 100,000 in 2017/18 to 90.9 per 100,000 in 2018/19. Reported sexual offences in 2019/2020 increased again to 53,293 reported cases. Furthermore, from October to December 2021, 11 315 rape cases were reported, which equates to 123 cases per day on average. These alarming statistics demand the attention of the media. The media is known to be a powerful tool of influence; however, in the process, the media has been criticised for portraying violence in ways that can have a varying effect on the behaviour of those exposed to it. Many studies have been conducted to examine the impact of the media on violent behavior; none or few of them have focused on the impact of the print media on GBV against women, with an emphasis on community perception. This is what this paper intends to focus on. The purpose of this study was to investigate Uitenhage residents' perceptions of the print media's portrayal of gender-based violence against women and children, and the relationship between people’s exposure to the print media and their violent behaviour. The quantitative research method was employed, and questionnaires were subsequently distributed to collect data from the respondents, who were residents of Uitenhage, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The findings of this study revealed that respondents are of the opinion that the print media has a varying effect on different individuals and that, in spite of the fact that there is an association between people’s exposure to the print media and their violent behaviour, there are other contributing factors to people’s violent behaviour. This study will contribute to the body of knowledge in the area of print media reporting by bringing the media’s attention to the representation of GBV.