Jack the Ripper
by Aly Skaggs
Who, What, When, Where, why
In 1888, a notorious murderer, Jack the Ripper, canonically killed five women; Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane. This was taking place in London, England. People speculate he may have killed eleven but there have been evidence where they are sure he had killed five which they call "canonically". What makes him stand out during this time period was the way he would kill the prostitutes. He brutalized their bodies, mutilated them.
Media Perspective 1
The media has portrayed Jack the Ripper as a Cunning insane man, according to Casebook.org. The British Newspaper the "Echo" had portrayed the incidents themselves as "ghastly" horrible as mutilation surrounding prostitutes is uncommon but killings of prostitutes is not uncommon themselves since they were women of the night. They had mention how everyone was in an uproar, scared of what would happen if this man was not captured. They questioned a lot of what kind of man would use a bayonet and mutilate them in such a humiliating as he had done.
Media Perspective 2
One of the documentaries had suspected Federick Deeming as one of the suspects as Jack the Ripper. They had mention that he had done this more than once and he had done this to his previous wife killing her burying her, then strangling their children burying them under the floorboards of the kitchen. They made him into a man worth fearing, but for obvious reasons.
Media Biases
In the first murder that took place on August 31st, 1888 the Echo had reported it first thing in the header. But as the murders continued they started to slowly begin to downplay it putting plays that were occurring first so it didn't seem like it was that big of a deal. Other biases include in the headline one was "HORRIBLE MURDER IN WHITECHAPEL. WOMAN SHOCKINGLY MUTILATED. HEAD NEARLY CUT OFF." Not saying that this isn't something to be shocked about cause that is terrifying to hear about for sure, but to add words like "HORRIBLE" and "SHOCKINGLY" adds biasness. They could've put the had the same message by having a title like "Murder in WhiteChapel. Woman's head nearly cut off and mutilated".
Criticism 1
In the Echo, when talking about Mary Ann Nichols, they would refer to her as a creature. Because they had no name to her they had stated, "When the body of the unfortunate creature - not yet identified - was taken to the mortuary, a more minute examination showed that the actual wounds were of a character too horrible to mention in detail." Also Jack the Ripper also went after female Prostitutes, cutting them up, cutting their womanhood away, example; he had cut off the breast of his last victim, cutting out her intestines and uterus making her less of a woman. He mutilated them in such a humiliating way. If Jack the Ripper had not mutilated these women, if he had not did them in the way he did, this wouldn't have been in the newspaper. The media would not have cared because back during these days it was expected if a woman chose to be a "lady of the night" it was expected you might've been murdered. But because these women were mutilated they "stood out" from the crowd.
Criticism 2
Jack the Ripper only targeted the women in the poorer areas of London. He dressed up as a wealthy man, wearing the trench coat, hat, to have the looks so he can get the prostitutes to come to him. Then when they did he would attack them murdering them. He continued to target that area during 1888.
Jack the Ripper : Documentary on Re-investigating the Evidence and Suspects