In the article “Missing and Murdered Women: Reproducing marginality in News Discourse” Yasmin Jiwani and Mary Lynn Young use frame analysis to investigate media representation of marginalized groups. They do so by studying five years’ worth of newspaper reports about the missing women from Vancouver’s downtown east side. Through their corpus study, Jiwani and Young found that the media reported on these women, most of whom were Aboriginal sex workers, was organized in a way that promoted the hegemonic discourse that the public, was accustomed to. This portrayal held the women in “zones of degeneracy” which reinforces that the dominate interpretation of these marginalized subjects will continue (Jiwani and Young, 899). By doing so Jiwani and Young argue that the victims are no longer viewed as individuals with lives outside of their stereotypes; but instead, as being partially to blame for the crimes committed against them. Since they are defined by this single representation of their marginalized group, it makes it difficult for the general public to understand the background of not only these woman, but of their cultural past, when the media portrays them in a certain way. Jiwani and Young explain how the frames (dominate interpretation of subjects) through which victims are portrayed have an impact about how the public perceives them, and the crime, and it is the media who are able to decide which frames to use. While there are the cases of counter framing, where the story resists dominant representation, these are not generally common. This idea of frames and counter frames can be applied to other marginalized groups in the media, but as Robyn Bourgeois article on Huffington Post acknowledges these frames can be revealed; however, it is often not by the major news networks.

Framing that supports the hegemonic discourse and negative stereotypes of a group can also be seen through the portrayal of mental illness in the media. As Kismet Baun explains in the article “Stigma Matters: The Media’s Impact on Public Perceptions of Mental Illness” and, the way mental illness is perceived by the public is drastically altered by the way mental illness is portrayed in the media. People suffering from mental illness are often all grouped together, and this marginalized group, then, is subject to being represented through frames which align with the publics negative stereotypes. Therefore, stereotypical attributes such as being violent or unpredictable are the frames shown to the public which in turn shape their views on mental illness. For instance, split is a new movie that is scheduled to be released in 2016 in which a man with multiple personality disorder kidnaps three teenaged girls and holds them hostage in a violent manner. Therefore, the movie reinforces the negative stimgma that menatal illness is equated to violence (for further disscussion visit Upcoming M. Night Shyamalan Movie “Split” Vilifies Mental Illness). This portrayal of violence in mental illness has often been studied. For example, in his essay “An Issue of Perceptions: Mental Illness, the Police and the Media” Ralph Ashford noted through referencing Wahl, that the newspapers reported few stories of recovery or accomplishments regarding the mentally ill, focusing more on either dysfunction or disability than on community contributions. This contributes to the single frame that the public receives from reading the newspaper as it only acknowledges the mentally ill as dysfunctional and incompatible with our society. Through this frame of reference, the violence committed against mentally ill people is more likely to be seen as inevitable. In recent years there has been many cases of police brutality due to the victim being mentally ill (see 5 key cases of police shooting deaths involving mentally ill individuals). The Robert Dziekanski case is an example of an attempt to justify police brutality as a response to mental illness.  Robert Dzienkanski was a Polish immigrant who was disorientated in YVR, the police tasered Dzienkanski five times, inducing a heart attack, and ultimately killing him because they claimed he had the “capacity to kill” (Curt Petrovich, CBC).

Both the Missing Women’s’ Cases and the Robert Dzienkanski case are examples of how marginalized groups’ portrayal in the media impact the way in which the violence committed against them is seen. The frames of reference that Jiwani and Young discuss can be used to analyze the reason that the media representation can shape public views of marginalized groups. It is important to be aware of these frames when we are watching the news, and seek counter-frames. By doing so we only see a group through such a frame, our negative stereotypes will be confirmed and the violence against them can seem rational because they are dehumanized. 

Works Cited

Jiwani, Yasmin and Young, Mary Lynn. Missing and Murdered Women: Reproducing Marginality in New Discourse. Canadian Journal of Communication; 2006. Vol 31.

Bourgeeois, Robyn. “Is Anyone Listening to the ‘Forsaken’, Marginalized Women of Vancouver?”. HuffPost British Columbia. 17, February 2013. Web. Retrieved 18 November 2016.

Baun, Kismet. “Stigma Matters: The Media’s Impact on Public Perceptions of Mental Illness”. Ottawa Life (2009). Web. Retrieved 18 November 2016.

Ashford, Ralph. “An Issue of Perceptions: Mental Illness, the Police and the Media”.  Athabasca University- Master of Arts- Integrated Studies. December, 2012. Web. Retrieved 18 November 2016.

Curt Petrovich. “Dziekanski death at hands of RCMP a homicide, B.C. coroner rules” CBC News. 8 April 2013.Web. Retrieved 18 November 2016. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/dziekanski-death-at-hands-of-rcmp-a-homicide-b-c-coroner-rules-1.1411262