The media shapes public understanding of violence against women and girls, but until now there has been no systematic review of reporting on violence against women and girls in Indian media. This paper presents the results of analysis of over 1,500 articles from four mainstream Indian newspapers—two English and two Hindi—and measures these articles against several sets of guidelines for reporting on violence against women and girls. This analysis revealed that mainstream newspapers’ reporting on violence against women and girls is overwhelmingly incident-based, presenting this violence as a series of isolated events rather than a systemic social issue. Thematic reporting that explicitly challenges common myths about violence against women and girls, describes the difficulties survivors face in seeking justice, and provides information about support and resources for survivors, is very rare.
