Crime and the Media

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  • Created by: Ben_95
  • Created on: 27-03-14 18:54

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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