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When Tacoma Police Chief David Brame
shot his wife, Crystal Brame, then himself, on the afternoon of
April 26, the assault/suicide intensified public debate about
the responsibilities of individuals, law enforcement, and media
in combating domestic violence.
The shootings in a shopping center parking lot left David Brame
dead, Crystal Brame critically injured with a bullet wound to
the head, and many questions about whether the tragedy could have
been prevented.
Within hours, some in the Tacoma Police Department made statements
blaming media coverage of the Brame's divorce proceedings for
pushing Brame toward violence. Others, including victims' advocates,
have countered that such accusations minimize domestic violence
and downplay the responsibility of the abuser.
Cathy Bullock, a Utah State University professor who has researched
news media representations of domestic violence, believes news
coverage of the Brame case has potential to increase public awareness
of vital issues.
"We're already seeing coverage that openly discusses the idea
that this was a domestic violence crime and that describes Crystal
Brame's experience as a victim," wrote Bullock in email correspondence
with the Dart Center.
Local newspapers have published extensive coverage of the Brame
story this week, including articles chronicling David Brame's
background, the actions of the police department, and broader
issues involving domestic violence.
Tacoma News Tribune columnist Kathleen Merryman, for instance,
has written columns about appropriate responses to domestic violence
(see City
should have heeded Chief Brame's warning signals and Brame
tragedy creates a climate for a domestic peace initiative).
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has published news articles,
columns, and opinion pieces addressing various implications of
domestic violence (see Warning
signs were there, advocates for victims say, Brame
case offers lessons for helping battered women and Date-rape
allegation haunted chief).
Bullock noted that such coverage, acknowledging such crimes
as domestic violence and focusing on the experiences of victims,
is relatively uncommon, according to her research results. In
a study co-authored by Bullock and Jason Cubert, both Dart Center
research assistants at the time of the analysis, less than 23
percent of 230 newspaper articles analyzed used labels such as
"domestic violence" or "domestic abuse."
"That means more than two-thirds of the articles tended not to
develop the idea that the case involved domestic violence," wrote
Bullock. "So, the small sample of coverage I've seen on the Brame
case is already ahead in some respects."
However, Bullock added, some media coverage has suggested that
either media coverage, or Crystal Brame herself, shared blame
for the crime. Bullock's research results indicated that shifting
blame away from the attacker is not uncommon. Almost 48 percent
of the articles studied suggested either motivation, or an excuse,
for the attacker, while 17 percent blamed the victim.
Some coverage of the Brame case has also emphasized that no one
in the Tacoma Police Department saw warning signs of the chief's
final act of violence, said Bullock. "This taps into one of the
common misconceptions about domestic violence," she wrote, "that
abusers should be easily identifiable.
"We found this frame in the Washington state study," she explained.
"In some articles, people expressed surprise because the person
who committed the violence seemed normal . Some early coverage
of the Brame case seems to be presenting the misconception (that
perpetrators should be easily identified)."
Yet the Brame case may offer an avenue for greater understanding
of domestic violence issues. Since the attacker was a well-known
public official, the shootings happened in a public place with
the couple's children nearby, and the victim remains hospitalized
in a coma, ongoing coverage is likely, Bullock pointed out.
"Such factors will ensure that coverage will not stop after the
initial story," Bullock wrote, "that coverage will continue as
the story evolves."
In such a high-profile case, journalists will have an opportunity
to cover the story in greater depth. "We should, in theory anyway,
get deeper coverage that moves beyond the crime at hand to broader
issues connected with domestic violence," Bullock wrote.
"We should start to see interviews with family members, friends,
and (in an ideal world) domestic violence workers."
ALSO READ: Domestic
Violence: A Look at Coverage
Cathy Bullock's and Jason Cubert's research
article, "Coverage of Domestic Violence Fatalities by Newspapers
in Washington State," was published in the Journal of
Interpersonal Violence, May 2002.
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