Representations of women murdered in fait divers: an analysis in the newspaper The Times, Daily News and Diário Gaúcho

Abstract

The paper focuses on the fait divers, researching through Documentary research the news published in newspapers The Times and Daily News about women murdered by Jack the Ripper in the nineteenth century, and the coverage of the newspaper Diário Gaúcho on the case of young lady killed by ex-boyfriend in 2015. Briefly characterizing the journalistic genre and fictional genre which appeared together in the pages of newspapers, and where Barthes (1971) and Meyer (1996) recognize similarities, we try to identify in fait divers a specific common element to the narratives of the feuilleton: the character. In investigating what the fictional characters and the “real” characters have in common, the study concludes that these are an important factor of similarity between the selection criteria and the way in which the subjects that are reported and those that make up the theme of fictional works.