Strangulation in the UK Media

The mainstream media is well documented as an instrument that shapes how society thinks and responds to societal issues. Following the introduction of strangulation as a standalone offence in England & Wales in 2022, IFAS, as a team, started sharing media reports of arrests and convictions when they made the news. From this stemmed research into how strangulation is presented in the UK media through a content analysis on online article titles.

Between November 2022 and November 2024, the IFAS team obtained 294 online news articles using online search engines. The vast majority of our sources were from local media outlets. Findings from a recent survey by Ofcom found that 92% of UK adults use local news, 89% of which access this online.

This research is a content analysis of online article titles on strangulation. Through this series we embark on a journey to better understand how strangulation is reported in the UK media and what this tells us about the messages being conveyed to the public about victims, perpetrators and more broadly about violence against women and girls.

We will be launching the findings through a series of five short reports on a weekly basis. Sign up to our newsletter to get your weekly alert.

Part 1: Introduction & Methodology

Published June 2025

Part 1 in this series covers the introduction and methodology of this research in which we collected and analysed 294 online article titles on strangulation in the UK media.

Part 1: Introduction & Methodology

Part 2: Literature Review

Part 2 explores how strangulation has been portrayed through a review of existing literature and its various contexts and different
media forms.

Media Analysis Part 2: Literature Review

Part 3: A Review of Existing VAWG Media Guidelines

Part 3 is a review of existing guidelines for reporting on Violence Against Women & Girls from a range of different bodies and organisations. This report sets the stage for Part 4 where we use these existing guidelines to compare some of the online article titles against.

Media Analysis Part 3: Media Guidelines Review

Part 4: Content Analysis Findings

At the heart of this series is the content analysis where we look at the terminology being used in the article titles. Our analysis looks at how these words are being used to describe the act of strangulation and what messages this conveys to the audience about the seriousness of this crime and the impact on victims.

Release date: 20th June 2025

Part 5: Summary & Discussion

It is essential that strangulation, both fatal and non-fatal continues to be reported in the UK media. Part 5 of our analysis brings together our findings to make concrete recommendations on how reporting can be improved to better hold perpetrators accountable and prioritise the voices of the victim/survivors.

Release date: 27th June 2025