‘Inquiry Without Inquiry’: News Values, Framing and Reporting of Commonwealth Commissions and Parliamentary Inquiries Into Gender‐Based Violence in Australia

This article explores how mainstream print and online news publications have reported on the role of Commonwealth commissions and parliamentary inquiries in responding to gender‐based violence in Australia. Analysing coverage of the release of the Royal Commission on Human Relationships (1974–1977) together with three parliamentary inquiries into gender‐based violence which took place between 2015 and 2025, the article finally examines mediated calls for a national royal commission into gender‐based violence in response to a series of femicides in 2024. Through textual analysis of news coverage, the study identifies patterns in source selection, framing and news values that shape public understanding of gender‐based violence as a political and social issue. Three findings illuminate opportunities and limitations in the mediated politics of gender‐based violence. First, that media coverage of royal commissions and parliamentary inquiries offered a unique opportunity to elevate the voices of sectoral representatives and victim–survivors, consistent with best‐practice approaches to legitimising marginalised voices in the framing of violence against women. Second, that episodic, conflict‐driven and sensationalised reporting conventions were apparent throughout sampled coverage of political responses to gender‐based violence. Third, that royal commissions and parliamentary inquiries are often positioned as symbolic ends rather than instruments of systemic reform.