Domestic Violence Narratives in the Portuguese Newsmagazine Visão: Breaking the Objectivity Rule

This chapter analyses the long-format reportage “Here a Woman Died”, published in 2015 in the Portuguese news magazine Visão. The singularity of this experience of slow reporting challenges the usual frameworks of journalistic coverage of domestic violence and enhances the civic effects of journalism. In 2014, the tragic number of 42 femicides registered in Portugal motivated the involvement of the newsroom in the production of a lengthy report with multiple outputs. The journalists immersed themselves in the (lost) lives of the murdered women and used sensitive visual aids to document their existences and reinforce the message against gendered domestic violence.

The report evolved into a social campaign, giving rise to a traveling photo exhibition and dissemination activities between 2015 and 2016, articulated with national and local authorities, activists, and non-governmental organizations. The magazine Visão has an editorial culture centred on traditional journalistic values, such as objectivity and impartiality, which were deliberately overlooked compared to others, such as empathy with the victims and engagement with the readers. The initiative had relevant social and mobilization impacts, although temporary, that encourage rethinking the complexity of the relations between journalistic cultures and citizen communities.