Johanssen, J. and Garrisi, D. 2019. “I Am Burning, I Am Burning”: Affect, acid attacks and British tabloid newspapers. Journalism Studies. 20 (4), pp. 463-479. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1389294
| Title | “I Am Burning, I Am Burning”: Affect, acid attacks and British tabloid newspapers |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Johanssen, J. and Garrisi, D. |
| Abstract | This article draws on studies that explore forms of contemporary journalism which focus on the role played by the expression of emotions and feelings. We present results from a qualitative study which examined how British tabloid newspapers covered acid attacks on women between 2010-2016. Drawing on the notion of affect, we explore the extent to which journalists try and turn painful embodied states into rational discourse. The data analysed suggest that such experiences cannot be completely captured by language. The journalists make use of particular narrative strategies focussing on the incident of the attack by highlighting how pain was experienced by the individual. This often results in the women being singled out and isolated. While there is some discussion of the contexts in which the violence occurred, the wider socio-cultural background is absent from the articles. We conclude that the focus on intense pain in the articles may enable a particular affective relationality to emerge that is felt by victims, journalists and audiences alike. |
| Keywords | acid attacks; affect; burns; pain; tabloid journalism; violence |
| Journal | Journalism Studies |
| Journal citation | 20 (4), pp. 463-479 |
| ISSN | 1461-670X |
| Year | 2019 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| Accepted author manuscript | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1389294 |
| Web address (URL) | http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1389294 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 26 Oct 2017 |
| Published in print | 2019 |
| Funder | Quintin Hogg Trust |