La rappresentazione mediatica della violenza di genere online: come i giornali italiani raccontano la cyber-VAWG

This essay analyses media representations of cyber-violence against women and girls in the Italian national press through a qualitative-quantitative analysis of a corpus of articles published between 2016 and 2022. The research, conducted on two generalist newspapers («la Repubblica» and «il Fatto Quotidiano»), aims to investigate the discursive strategies through which online gender-based violence is narrated, categorized, and made intelligible in the media arena. The analysis highlights a predominance of victimizing frames and a limited structural thematization of the phenomenon, characterized by a lack of critical engagement with the underlying sociocultural dynamics. Significant variations also emerge in the narrative construction of cases depending on the victims’ profiles and the editorial stance of the newspapers. The findings offer a critical reflection on the role of the media in (re)producing gender imaginaries and inequalities in digital spaces.