A Content Analysis of Local Media Framing of Intimate Partner Violence

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cited intimate partner violence (IPV) as a serious, yet preventable public health problem that affects millions of Americans in our country daily. Given the enormous prevalence of IPV combined with the operating assumption that media can impact public opinion and policy, it is important to uncover how topics such as IPV are portrayed in the media, as these portrayals provide potentially significant influence on the public's opinion of IPV and related policies that directly impact victims, survivors, and perpetrators. The purpose of this study seeks to uncover the portrayal of IPV at the community level as reported by the media-notably, a local newspaper in a county located in the southeastern United States. The media analysis revealed several pertinent thematic categories that describe the frequency and content of IPV reporting in the Greensboro News & Record. Beginning in 2015, it appears that the county's plans for opening the Guilford County Family Justice Center sparked increased media attention in the county, which perhaps contributed to subsequent years of frequent coverage of community resources, support services, funding sources, and public awareness events related to domestic violence in the local community. While a direct explanation cannot be provided for the total cause of the significant decrease in IPV-related homicides as revealed in this study, the media analysis suggests that Guilford County is making significant strides against IPV.