The media play a key role in shaping public opinion and perceptions of different social groups. However, when media professionals use an excessive number of negative images or choose particularly compromising images, this phenomenon is called symbolic violence.
In forensic science, there is the term ‘overkill’, which refers to the use of excessive violence against the victim, often exceeding the level necessary to cause death. It is characterised by multiple blows, multiple wounds or prolonged use of force, which suggests intense emotions on the part of the perpetrator, such as anger, hatred or a desire to humiliate. Such action is often interpreted as an expression of personal resentment or a desire to brutally ‘annihilate’ the victim in a physical and symbolic sense. Such visual ‘overkilling’ is also sometimes used in the media, in visual communication. It usually concerns propaganda messages, describing particularly negative situations, in situations of war or intended to achieve some specific, ‘morally right’ according to the authors. This phenomenon often not only perpetuates stereotypes, but also introduces a specific image of a given group into the public consciousness, which is particularly damaging in the case of groups that are already marginalised and provides a good basis for the disinformation process.
The phenomenon of such visual ‘overkill’ has its roots in the widely understood ‘media bombardment’ and ‘negative framing’. ‘Media bombardment’ here refers to the overexposure of images or news of a particular nature – usually negative – that can influence public perception and lead to the exclusion of a particular group. ‘Negative framing’ refers to the specific presentation of information aimed at directing the viewer’s thoughts towards negative associations, emotions and interpretations. When it comes to Roma women and men, visual representations in the media tend to focus on showing them in a context of poverty, crime or exoticism, which perpetuates stereotypes and prejudices their marginalisation.
- The Roma male is most often portrayed as being associated with violence or criminal activity. Images showing young men, often in groups, in black clothes, sports clothes or during arrests create the image of a dangerous, aggressive individual/group, which reinforces the stereotype of Roma as a group prone to violence. The media very rarely show them in positive contexts – around the family, at work or in roles of positive social figures. For this reason, Roma are often dehumanised and seen as a threat, leading to social rejection and ethnic tensions.
An example from Leszno, where during a press conference organised by Krzysztof Rutkowski, a photographer shows a large number of pictures of a father (and other Roma) acting in defence of his accused son, surrounded by a questionable public figure. The photographer tries to portray the Roma community in a bad light, e.g. he takes a picture of a dirty phone, pictures intended to show serious faces of Roma men that could be perceived as ‘threatening’, pictures of a group of men who play no role in the case. It can be highly questionable whether, in an analogous situation, random (non-Roma) members of the public are photographed during such a conference.
- The Roma woman, on the other hand, is often portrayed in the media as a symbol of exoticism, superstition and lack of education. Photographs depicting women in colourful headscarves, stage dresses, or surrounded by poverty, mess, unsightly surroundings, while begging, with many children present, reinforce the image of the Roma woman as being cut off from modern society and culturally ‘alien’. By the fact that Roma women are so often portrayed in the context of traditional social roles, they are rarely shown as educated, working or aspiring to higher social positions. This image reinforces the stereotype of the Roma woman as subordinate and not integrated into society.
An example: showing children neglected (clothing, cleanliness) or surrounded by extreme poverty is a very blatant example of symbolic violence directed against the Roma minority and especially against Roma women. Showing children in a crisis of poverty, neglected, dirty, etc. in our cultural code hits Roma women and the roles of mothers they perform. It shows them as dehumanised figures and inferior to mothers from the majority society.
According to Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence, this way of portraying marginalised groups in the media can be described as a form of symbolic violence. This violence is invisible but affects the psychological and social positioning of marginalised groups, keeping them in subordinate social roles. Negative framing as a form of excessive negative portrayal of a particular group or person, thus functions as a tool of dehumanisation and objectification. The effects of such portrayal are not limited to individuals, but permeate the entire community, creating prejudice and discrimination at institutional and individual levels.
Negative framing is one of the more subtle but extremely effective methods of marginalising communities, especially Roma communities. For this reason, educational and media activities to make the public aware of the effects of such representations are essential. In identifying visual manipulation techniques, media education can help, which is crucial for the development of an informed audience capable of critically evaluating media messages. However, visual communicators play a major role here: photography, graphic design, reporting, and editing especially in the context of emergency events such as accidents and conflict situations. It is in these cases that media narrators find it most difficult to maintain integrity and contain negative emotions.
Agnieszka Pięta
Premiere of the Roma Shield report – on gender-based disinformation towards the Roma community – 18 November 2024.