Patriarchy in a Postdigital Era: How Australian News Media (Re)Position Women in Domestic Violence Cases

Abstract As traditional news platforms—such as newspapers—have long served as sites for the reproduction of gendered discourses, the digital space appears to be no different. Although we might expect digital platforms to challenge or transform these entrenched narratives, after long decades of feminist activities, transformation is not always consistent, visible, or long-lasting. In this article, we analyse the portrayal of women in Australian domestic violence cases reported through digital news media. Drawing on a postdigital feminist perspective, we consider how digital news reporting on domestic violence interacts with, and contributes to, real-life intimate relations and everyday practices. While the topic of domestic violence in the media is not new, our contribution lies in extending the analysis by using postdigital concepts as both a lens and a thinking tool. This framework enables a more nuanced examination that foregrounds performativity and precarity as central concepts. We draw on Butler’s concepts of gender performativity and precarity to illuminate the gendered roles articulated in digital news reports of domestic violence. Our dataset comprises domestic violence cases reported in 2024 by the seven most popular Australian digital news outlets providing national coverage. To analyse the evaluative language and positioning of women in these accounts, we use Martin and White’s appraisal framework. We argue that Australian online news continues to reproduce conditions of precarity, sustaining a heteropatriarchal moral order that shapes and regulates gendered performances within intimate relationships.