ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part demonstrates the resilience of certain long-standing feminist critiques of news coverage, whilst highlighting the importance of being attentive to context. It focuses on news coverage of domestic abuse in the UK. Whilst focusing on a statistically rarer form of domestic abuse (against men) the part highlights the newsworthiness of the exceptional and asks how these exceptional cases work to redefine the norm. It then weaves media examples together with broader debates about policing, justice and immigration in their reflections on the heightened visibility accorded to “Asian hate” in the US in 2022. The part also demonstrates the ongoing relevance of debates about naming and the im/precision of language. It considers how news reporting of white male vigilantism has been weaponised in Australian news and current affairs to justify the criminalisation of Black African communities.
