6. The Media And Crime Flashcards
Crime in the media
Sociologists are interested in the relationship between media and crime for the following reasons:
Representation of crime- How crime is portrayed in the media, and how accurately?
Cause of crime- Does the media cause or increase crime?
Fear of crime- Does the media make us more afraid of becoming a victim of crime?
Moral panic- Does the media demonise and amplify the deviance of some social groups?
Cybercrime- How far does the internet create new opportunities for crime?
- Representation of crime
-Crime and deviance make up the majority of news coverage, tabloids dedicate a larger space for crime and deviance
-Study from Williamson + Dickinson found 30% of coverage in the Sun was dedicated to crime, whereas the guardian was only 5%
-The misleading representation of crime in the media demonstrates that reporting does not convey ‘facts’ that simply exist out there waiting to be gathered, instead news is a social construction
-Certain stories are rejected whilst others are accepted
-This is shaped mainly by news value, values held by editor and journalist of what makes a good story
Yvonne Jewkes (2015)
Argues main criteria to making things news worthy are:
-Thresholds- events need to be dramatic or exciting (serial murder rather than single murder)
-Proximity- crimes that have a spatial and cultural closeness to media audiences rather than culturally dissimilar countries
-Simplification- events that are easily understood and not too complicated, without need for background information
-Risk- crimes become newsworthy when it can be presented as so serious, random and unpredictable we are all at risk of becoming victims
-Spectacle and graphic images- the availability of graphic images such as CCTV is newsworthy as it provides a visual and dramatic impact for audiences
-Celebrity or high status people- Crime and deviance involving celebrities or important people seen as more newsworthy
-Children- victims or offenders make more newsworthy
-Violence- violent crimes more newsworthy
- Media as a cause of crime
-Sociologists believe media has a negative effect on the public. Green and Rainer claim the media is Criminogenic- causes crime
Some ways it does this is:
-Absence of control
-Desensitisation
-Crime techniques
-Creates desire
-Imitation
-Glamorising offending
Creates new types of crimes
-Greer and Reiner argue the media may not only cause crime but can help create a new type of crime or offence. This is because they can change peoples perception and almost brainwash
Media and relative deprivation
-Media may indirectly encourage people to commit crime because the media set the norms of a material lifestyle. If the media encourages material consumption, poorer people are going to want the new designer stuff
Crime as a commodity
-Hayward and Young argue that in a world saturated with digital images, the digital media has turned crime into a desirable commodity, and therefore images, as well as reality can cause crime
- Fears of crime
-Evidence suggests media reporting is both distorted and exaggerated. Some sociologists have expressed concern that media reporting of crime may be causing an unrealistic fear of crime especially among the elderly
-Research supports this idea to some extent
-Gerbner found in the USA that heavy users of television (over 4 hours a day) had higher levels of fear of crime than light users
-Schlesinger + Tumber found a correlation between media consumption and fear of crime, with tabloid and heavy uses of television expressed a greater fear of becoming a victim
- Moral panic theory
-Another effect of media is that it can arouse ‘moral panic’ is people. Moral panic is the ability to generate widespread feelings of anxiety and concern that exaggerate the risks the public may face from threats.
1. Media identification: something or someone is identified and labelled by media which is seen as a threat according to society’s values
2. Media exposure: the threat is sensationalised and exaggerated negatively you the media
3. Public concern: perceived threat causes heightened concern in the public
4. Reaction by authorities: authorities and opinion makers become concerned which leads to a crackdown on deviants
5. Increases public concern: as the media reports on the crackdown more deviants identified creating panic
6. Amplification spiral- media continues to report on police activity further amplifying public fear and leading to additional police activity
MODS AND ROCKERS
-This had the effect of generating concern among the general public and the police then responded to this increased public fear and perceived threat to social order by policing future mods and rockers events more heavily and being more likely to arrest youths from either subculture for deviant behaviour (whether violent or not).
-A further consequence of the exaggerated media reporting was that the mods and rockers came to see themselves as opposed to each other, something which hadn’t been the case before the media exaggeration.
Deviancy amplification
One of the alleged consequences of a moral panic – it is where a group becomes more deviant as a result of media exaggeration of their deviance. It is very similar to the Self Fulfilling Prophecy.
- Cyber crime
-New type of media outlet for information is the internet with half the worlds population using it
-Leads to increase in cyber crime
-Cyber crime defined as computer mediated activities which are either illegal or considered illicit
-The internet has meant that some criminals have transferred their activities from the physical world into the virtual
-WALL (2001) identifies 4 types of cyber crime:
•Cyber-trespass= entering into the cyber property of another without authorisation and causing damage, e.g. deleting, destroying or disrupting
•Cyber-deception and theft= involves stealing money or property, such as credit card fraud, identity theft and intellectual property violation
•Cyber-pornography= publishing ‘obscene pornography’, especially that which involves children and the access of children to pornographic websites on the internet
•Cyber-violence= involves sending unwanted emails, texts, tweets and photos with intent of causing harm
Evaluation news values and crime coverage
Weakness: conservative ideology as they underestimate the negative news coverage such as state crimes
Evaluation media as a cause of crime
Strengths
-Supporting research evidence- Bobo doll study
Weaknesses
-Poor application to certain crimes, can’t be a cause for things like rape as it’s to extreme
-Criticism of Bobo doll study, criticised for lacking validity as it was conducted in an articfical setting not representing real life
Evaluation the Media exaggerates fear of crime
Weakness
-Media does not exaggerate fear of crime, no prood media is cause of increased crime
