crime and the media
- Created by: gandalfburrows13
- Created on: 22-12-16 18:42
Crime and the Media
Media representations of crime
crime/deviance = large portion of news coverage. Williams/Dickinson British news coverage = 30% crime coverage
But, the news media gives distorted image. For example, as compared to official stats;
- media over represents violent/sexual crime
- media portray criminals/victims as older/middleclass (different to CJS reports) felson calls this 'age fallacy'
- media exaggereates police success
- exaggerates the risk of victimisation (e.g. to women)
- crime is reportedas a series of seperate events (without underlying causes)
- media over play extraordinary crimes - Felson = 'dramatic fallacy'
News values and crime coverage
The social construction of news - the distorted pic of crime = social construction. Cohen/Young - news is manufactured not discovered
- news doesn't exist 'out there' waiting to be gathered/written up
- it is the outcome of social processes some stories are selected, others rejected
new values - key element in social construction = 'news values' = criteria journalists/editors use to decide whether story is news worthy enough.
key news values influencing selection of crime stories include;
- immediacy
- dramatisation - action and excitement
- personalisation - human interest
- higher-status persons (celebs)
- simplification - no shades of grey
- novelty and unexpectedness - new angle
- risk - vulnerability/fear
- violence - visible/spectcular acts
Fictional representations of crime
TV, cinema and novels = sources of knowledge of crime, much is crime related
- Mandel - from1945-84, over 10 billion crime thrillers sold worldwide
- 25% of prime TV and 20% films = crime shows/movies. fictional representations = Surette's 'law of opposites' = opposite to official stats/similar to news exaggeration
- property crime = under-represented
- drugs, sex = over-represented
- fictional sex crimes = psychopaths not acquaintances
- fictional cops get their man there are 3 recent trends
- 'reality' shows = feature young, non-white 'underclass' offenders
- many show police as corrupt ,brutle/less successful
- victims = central, police are avengers and audiences invited to identigy w/ their suffering
The media as a cause of crime
media = negative effect on attitudes, values/behaviour - especially easily influenced people (young, L/C, uneducated). 'videonasties' - raplyrics/PC games = encourages violence/criminality
several ways it does this:
- immitation - deviant role models = copycat behaviour
- arousal - viewing violent imagery
- desensitisation - repeated viewing nums effects
- transmitting knowledge…
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