Narrating Gender Violence A Corpus-Based Study on the Representation of Gender-Based Violence in Italian Media

Abstract

Using a corpus-based and cross-modal approach, this study explores mediatic linguistic representations of gendered violence. Specifically, we analyse a journalistic corpus (WItNECS, Women in Italian Newspaper Crime Sections) and a multimedia dataset of the Italian TV program Amore Criminale (AC). The corpus is explored via collocational analysis of key terms and topic modelling. AC is investigated with a multimodal analysis of speech and gestures. Finally, we compare similarities and differences of newspaper and television language. Findings from this innovative methodology bring new evidence on the mediatic representation of ‘women as victims’.