Channel 7 News, Perth Now, and Yahoo News, reported the alleged murder of Britney Watson as a “wheelie bin death”.
Britney Watson was not a wheelie bin, she was a person.
She didn’t die, she was killed.
Describing the killing of Britney Watson as a “wheelie bin death” is inaccurate, dehumanising, sensationalist and ignorant.
A 17 year old boy has been charged with murder. An 18 year old woman was killed. Her two children will have to grow up and live their entire lives without a mother. All the people who loved her will have carry this grief forever.
Degrading this woman, the way she was killed, the way she will be remembers, and the alleged murderer with sensationalist headlines like this is a revolting use of the media’s power.
It’s not that journalists should know better, they DO know better. Research in Australia, on this specific topic, provided to the media, has been going on for years and has shown over and over and over again that sensationalist reporting reporting of men’s violence against women is dangerous (links in OP on Patreon if you’re reading on social media feeds https://www.patreon.com/posts/36871013 ).
Britney was a woman, a mother, a friend, a kinswoman but before all that she was a person. Reporting on her life and the way she was killed should be done with dignity, respect and sorrow. Anything else is not journalism, it’s utterly inexcusable exploitation, perpetrated by self-serving, misogynistic hacks and it should not be allowed to pass unchallenged.
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FixedIt is an ongoing project to push back against the media’s constant erasure of violent men and blaming of innocent victims. If you would like to help fund it – even $5 a month makes a big difference – please consider becoming a Patron
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