Citation

Cavaglion G. Child Abuse Rev. 2009; 18(2): 127-143.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/car.1028

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper explores the way Israeli newspapers disseminate and reproduce cultural beliefs about the personalities of fathers who kill. Based on textual content analysis, it examines forty-five articles from the three most popular Israeli daily newspapers that reported 12 cases of filicide between 1991 and 2002. The press coverage during the first few days, at the critical initial stages of the process of definition and designation of the events, receives more in-depth treatment. Analysis of these 12 cases shows that the press, drawing on retrospective interpretation, tended not to use descriptors reflecting purported madness or social distress of the perpetrators. Thus, rather than discussing extenuating circumstances based on mental disorder or social distress, it portrayed all fathers' filicides as premeditated and rational. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.