| dc.description.abstract | Abstract- Media construction, representation and
discourse of rape have a considerable power in
shaping public understanding and knowledge of rape,
and the use of images has a significant impact on this
as a "photograph immediately grabs the viewer's
attention and triggers profoundly personal
responses—emotional, paradoxical and not always
rational" (Roberts, 2011). These dynamics are at work
in Gossip Lanka news articles on Vithya
Sivaloganathan’s rape and murder which occurred in
May, 2015, and the present study has analysed the
manner/s in which the rape and murder of Vithya
Sivaloganathan is constructed, which also enables
multiple discourses, ways of seeing (the gaze) and
understanding rape, violence and murder along with
their re-presentations (the image and (hi)stories), in
order to examine the ways in which rape is
constructed with the use of images, and identify how
constructions of rape enable ways of seeing and
understanding rape. The study revealed that the
images were often used to guide the audience’s
perspective in a particular way desired or pre-designed
by media, and at times the accuracy of the images
used were also questionable. Therefore, the need for a
more responsible, non-sensationalist type of
representation of serious issues is identified. However,
it was also identified that the audience may have the
potential of seeing beyond the media manipulation. | en_US |
