親密伴侶殺人新聞論述分析─以男性殺害女性為例

「情殺」新聞標題與內文經常把「殺人」與「愛」連結，指稱案件是「因情而起」、「意外失手」，報導內容多從加害者的視角出發，呈現親密暴力的偏誤形象，但目前新聞學研究未曾檢視報導的親密伴侶殺人，因此筆者希望藉由親密伴侶殺人論述分析，了解台灣新聞媒體如何呈現親密伴侶殺人案、建構什麼樣的性別形象，以及婚姻伴侶與非婚姻伴侶的論述手法差異。筆者蒐集《自由時報》與《蘋果電子報》二〇一六年至二〇一九年兩報均有報導的親密伴侶殺人即時新聞，經條件篩選後，婚姻伴侶殺人報導（包括處於婚姻狀態，以及曾為婚姻狀態者）共九十八則，非婚姻伴侶殺人報導（包括交往關係與曾經交往）共一百二十六則報導。筆者採用批判論述分析後發現，婚姻伴侶殺人新聞大多數會提及嫌犯有施暴紀錄，但親密暴力的論述經常被邊緣化，佈置於文章末端，敘述手法也經常委婉化暴力行為，或者傳達被害者應該能逃離受暴環境的期許。此外，即使不確定被害者是否有外遇，新聞工作者有時會傾向認同嫌犯的說詞，建構似假還真的外遇論述。非婚姻伴侶殺人新聞則幾乎沒有提到親密暴力的歷史，敘事手法經常凸顯「懷疑移情別戀」、「醋勁大發」等字眼，並且檢視被害者的交友狀況或性經驗，將案件建構為男女情感的桃色糾紛。筆者建議，媒體工作者未來在報導親密伴侶殺人案時，應該盡量破除「以愛之名」的迷思，避免過度使用「情殺」、「感情糾紛」、「吃醋」、「懷疑對方移情別戀」等標籤，更不應該使用「癡心一片」、「苦苦哀求」、「深情」等字眼，而可以多採用「親密伴侶殺人」、「猜忌」的稱呼，降低親密暴力與愛的關聯；不論是婚姻或非婚姻伴侶殺人案，新聞報導中都可以加註親密暴力的求助資訊，以提升對親密暴力議題的能見度。

關鍵字

親密暴力；親密伴侶殺人；論述分析；性別研究

並列摘要

A homicide committed by an intimate partner (i.e., intimate homicide) is typically termed as killing for love. In Taiwan, relevant news reports often mistakenly associated this type of homicide with love. To date, few studies have been conducted to examine how the media portray intimate homicide. The present study explored how news coverage in Taiwan presented homicide committed by an intimate partner and what gender images have been constructed and discussed differences between homicide committed by a marital partner and that committed by a nonmarital partner. Using a critical discourse analysis, the author examined 2016 to 2019 online breaking news about homicide committed by an intimate partner reported by Liberal Times and Apple Daily. The author divided the news reports into two categories: marital homicide that occurred in married or divorced couples and nonmarital homicide that occurred in dating, de facto, or broken-up couples. The results indicated that martial homicide news often reported a history of violence imposed by a suspect upon his or her intimate partner (i.e., intimate violence); however, this information was typically placed at the end or nearly at the end of a news article, thereby marginalizing or euphemistically presenting the violence that occurred in intimate partners. In addition, in this type of news reports, even if whether an intimate partner had an affair was uncertain, the even was often narrated as if the affair had happened. A news report on non-marital homicide often highlighted a homicide suspect’s sorrow over his being dumped and revealed the dating status or sexual experience of the victim, describing the homicide as an unexpected accident unintentionally caused by the suspect because of a deep affection for his lover. The author suggested that journalists should avoid the myth of romantic love when reporting homicide committed by an intimate partner. In other words, journalists should not excessively use phrases such as “a heat of passion killing,” “emotional conflict,” “desperate love,” “man with sorrow over being dumped.” Instead, journalists should substitute these phrases with “homicide committed by an intimate partner” and “suspicion” to dissociate love and intimate violence. Furthermore, in news reports on marital or nonmarital homicide, useful information such as helpline telephone number or email address and warning signs can be added to prevent intimate violence and increase the public’s awareness of the intimate violence issues.