Crime and the Media
- Created by: Ben_95
- Created on: 27-03-14 18:54
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Media representations of crime
Crime and deviance makes up a lot of news coverage.
Williams and Dickinson (1993) - newspapers dedicate 30% of their news space to crime.
- The news media gives a distorted image of crime:
- The media over-represnet violent and sexual crime.
- The media portray criminals and victims as older and more middle-class - [Felson (1998) - age fallacy].
- The media exggerates police success.
- The media exggerates the risk of victimisation.
- Crime is reported as a series of seperate events without the underlying cause.
- The media overplay the coverage of extraordinary crimes - [Felson (1998) - dramatic fallacy].
Key news values influencing the selection of crime stories include:
- Immediacy
- Dramatisation - action/excitement.
- Personalisation - human intrest.
- Higher-state persons.
- Simplification - eliminating shades of grey.
- Extraordinariness - a new angle.
- Risk - victim-centered stories.
- Violence - spectacular acts.
Media causes crime
The media seen as to be a cause of crime.
There are several ways the media may cause crime and deviance:
- Imitation - providing…
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