Crime and deviance: Crime and the media

Question 1

Society has become —

Answer 1

Highly media saturated

Question 2

Media gives extremely distorted views of policing, criminals and vicitms of crime in comparison to official statistics. How?

Answer 2

• The media over represent violent and sexual crimes. 46% in the media but only 3% in real life.
• The media portray vicitms and criminals in certain ways - age fallacy, the media represent crimnals as older under false reasoning.
• Media coverage exaggerates police success in tackling crimes, they mainly represent the police in a good light.
• The media exaggerates the risk of victimisation, especially to women, white people and higher status individuals.

Question 2

Media coverage exaggerates police success A03

Answer 2

Police now arent viewed in a positive light e.g. George Floyd, Sarah Everard.

Question 3

What does Cohen and Young state about news values and crime coverage?

Answer 3

They argue that crime isnt discovered but manufactured. News is a social construction, some stories are selected for news coverage and some are rejected.

Question 4

What happened in the 1960s and the 1990s?

Answer 4

In the 1960s, the media would focus on crimes such as murder or petty crimes, however due to the rise in crime, by the 1990s, crime portrayed in the media had to be extraordinary and special to attract media coverage.

Question 5

What are the key news values influencing the selection of crime stories? (4)

Answer 5

• Immediacy
• Dramatisation
• Personalisaiton
• Higher status
• Simplification
• Novelty
• Risk
• Violence

Question 6

Who talks about the fictional representation of crime?

Answer 6

Mandel

Question 7

Fictional representation of crime.

Answer 7

Mandel states that the rise in crime thrillers reinforce our images and knowledge of crime, despite them not reflecting official statistics:
Police always find the perpretrator
Sex crimes are committed by psychopaths (someone you know)