Musasa Project Executive Director, Vimbai Mutendereki, has challenged the media to rethink the language used when reporting the killing of women, warning that describing femicide as a “crime of passion” risks romanticising violence and shifting responsibility away from perpetrators.
Mutendereki made the remarks during Musasa’s capacity-building training for journalists and editors on safe reporting of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV), where media practitioners examined how language and reporting practices can affect survivors and shape public understanding of gender-based violence.
“Reporters should stop romanticising femicide by calling them crimes of passion because it’s justifying that there was more love in a man’s heart enough to make him kill which is wrong, murder is murder,” Mutendereki said.
Her concern is not with reporting the circumstances surrounding a killing, but with how those circumstances are framed. Terms such as “crime of passion” can place the emphasis on jealousy, relationship conflict or alleged betrayal, creating a narrative in which the circumstances surrounding the killing appear to explain the violence.
For Mutendereki, this framing deserves greater scrutiny because the language used by the media does not exist in isolation. It influences how audiences understand violence, how victims are perceived and how survivors and families experience the aftermath.
“For me these are the discussions we need to unpack so that we speak around the impact of our language and what it means to survivors,” she said.
The concern becomes particularly significant in cases where headlines focus on a woman’s alleged behaviour before her death. A headline that centres on accusations of infidelity, for example, can quickly turn public attention towards judging the woman rather than examining the violence committed against her.
For Mutendereki, changing this narrative requires journalists and editors to look critically at the words they choose when reporting violence against women. Context remains important, but it should not become a justification for violence or a reason to place the victim on trial in the public domain.
The issue formed part of wider discussions during Musasa’s media training, which brought together journalists, editors and media representatives with law enforcement, legal practitioners, government and civil society organisations. The training examined how responsible reporting can protect survivors, avoid victim-blaming and contribute to public understanding of emerging forms of violence, including TFGBV.
The conversation around femicide also reflects a broader question for the media: when reporting violence against women, whose actions are we asking the public to scrutinise?
For Mutendereki, the answer should not be obscured by language that romanticises or softens the violence.
A relationship may have conflict, marriage may break down and jealousy may exist but none of these makes the killing of a woman an act of passion. “Murder is murder.”