Journalists systematically erased Colleen Rebelo in the wake of her femicide.
Colleen was murdered in 2020 by her son. He never confessed or admitted to killing her.
A judge found he most likely murdered Colleen to claim her insurance payout. He has just been sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
More photos and headlines have been published about Colleen’s killer and his girlfriend than have been published about Colleen.
I examined hundreds of articles about the femicide of Colleen. Less than 2% named her in the headlines. She was always ‘mum’ or ‘mother’ – or just not there at all.
In this reel, Seven News does not even bother using Colleen’s name.
This ABC reel is 60 seconds long – Colleen is focused on for 6 seconds. Note how he is portrayed as a smiling, loving good bloke?
Can you see the photos of Colleen in this WA Today article? No – probably not. That’s because her image is tiny.
The Australian focuses on her killer’s former partner. They could have chosen photos of this woman with clothes on – but they went for the bikini shots to drive engagement.
Mamamia ran four photos in this article – not one contains Colleen. They did not use her name until the sixth paragraph. This is a media outlet for women – the one you’d expect to get it right.
Media are just out here calling murder and femicide a ‘death’. They made it look like Colleen died from something other than male violence.
One media outlet used a photo of the shower where Colleen was found – it took up more space than the photo of Colleen.
WHAT THEY’RE DOING
❤️ OTHERING: Journalists assign roles to women – mother of, daughter of, wife of and so on.
❤️ERASING: Journalists focus on the perpetrators and others connected to the victim instead of focusing on the lives of the woman killed.
WHY THEY’RE DOING IT
Media outlets need subscriptions, social media engagement and high reader click-throughs to make money. Journalists craft their sells (ie headlines, story angles, video and photos) to meet KPIs.
Photos of young women and men with minimal clothing alongside salacious headlines drive engagement.
By producing unethical reporting, journalists feed billions into the pockets of media owners and companies. When you click on these stories, you contribute to an industry that exploits murdered women. Killed women and those who love them pay the price.
HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT MY WORK
I need your support to continue telling stories like Colleen’s and to keep documenting murdered women and children. Please buy a RED HEART t-shirt or consider donating to Australian Femicide Watch. 100% of money raised funds The RED HEART Campaign and Australian Femicide Watch.