Crime and The Media Flashcards
Crime in the News
Media are guilty of distorting the true crime rate in their representation of crime.
> studies show that British newspapers devote up to 30% of their space to crime.
broadsheet newspapers devote 5.1% whereas tabloid newspapers devote 30.4% to crime.
Pluralist Theory
“plural” - more than one
> says it is important to represent ideas, views, and values of different social groups so that people recognize that diversity exists and they have the ability to decide what to think - allows people to have a say in how society is run.
pluralists claim “content of the media reflects and mirrors what the public demand” - media is therefore adapting to prevailing values to maintain its appeal.
media puts out what the audience is gripped by - what interests them.
audiences are in the driving seat for what crime stories are covered.
audiences demand in the following way:
Novelty, the unusual, surprise
Violence, especially involving stranger-attacks
drama, excitement, an offender on the loose
a focus on “innocent”. and vulnerable groups, such as children and the elderly.
EXAMPLE - Yo Yeates was murdered in December 2020, the suspect was Christopher Jeffries, news used terms like “lewd, creepy, and weird” to describe him despite being the killer.
EVALUATION - Ben Bagdikian - decline in media pluralism over time
Marxism, Crime and the media
Marx said “the ruling ideas are the ideas of the ruling class”
> media is typically owed and controlled by powerful people.
powerful people are “primary definers” of the news - news represents their interests - people who lack power only consume news.
Marxist is an institution that transmits “capitalist ideology” - that is, it transmits a false view of reality in order to present ‘threats’ to capitalism in a negative light.
crime is a threat to capitalism - criminals are willing to break the law to oppress the powerful
representation of crime through the media provides protection for capitalist interests, by presenting criminals as young, poor, and working class.
white-collar crime goes unnoticed - media acts as a “new opium of the people”
What impact does crime in the media have on real crime rates
“the hypodermic syringe model of media effects” claims crime in the media causes an “increase in people’s fear of crime”.
> crime rates have fallen over the last 10 years - media focuses on reporting a crime that grabs attention e.g. knife crime creating the impression that crime is increasing, which is not true.
EVALUATION - “the hypodermic model” is rather patronizing to audiences in assuming they cannot realize what is factual and not factual.
Baudrillard (2011)
media saturated
we live in a “media-saturated society”
> one effect that media causes are that it can distort the truth about real crime rates.
false representations of crime create a “hyper-reality” - that is, by distorting the truth, the public can develop an irrational fear of crime that can have worrying consequences for people.
media focuses on violent crime and eye-grabbing crime.
they must exaggerate the risks that people face in reporting the crime to attract people’s interest - this has a negative effect on misleading the public in terms of fear of crime happening to them.
EXAMPLE - ‘line of duty’ series 2021 - fans ask “you wonder who got time to sit there and come up with this thing” - shows the term “hyper-reality” as some fans fail to separate fact from fiction.
EVALUATION - are people really injected with crime-related content - media simply reports crime as it grips the audience - they do not take the information in like Baudrillard says.
Jock Young
Media can fuel crime (luxury)
media can lead to a real increase in crime.
> Exposing people to luxurious lifestyles - “relative deprivation” can increase, especially among poorer people - increasing the temptation to commit a crime.
> Young uses the term “bulimic society” - seeing the lifestyle rich live, yet not being able to ‘consume’ for themselves, the poor are ‘starving’ - this increases money-driven crimes.
EVAL - over-generalises and has little evidence to support his theory - no evidence to show that media encourages financially motivated crimes.
EVAL - almost everybody experiences ‘relative deprivation’ - it isn’t clear why crime is something people turn to.
‘happy slapping’
some crimes can be “staged for the cameras”
> in 2005, young people filming each other slapping each other on the face, known as ‘happy slapping’.
> the entertainment from ‘happy slapping’ circulated via school media and became viral.
> this led to some trying to ‘push boundaries’ and achieve maximum “social status” leading to loss of life.
> in March 2008 a teenage female filmed the brutal beating of a man and received 2 years of custodial sentence.
Fenwick and Hayward (2000)
crime is marketed
through media, crime is “packaged and marketed” to younger people, especially as something ‘romantic, exciting and cool’.
> ‘gangster’ rap and hip-hop combine images of criminality with consumerist success.
> leading hip-hop artists parade designer clothes and link them to criminal lifestyles that allow them to achieve such clothing.
Rising ‘hate crime’
media reports encourage people to take law into their own hands - thus increasing crime rates.
> Anti-Islam demonstrations in Germany in Jan 2015 were a direct result of negative media reporting of Islam and association with extremism.
> hate crime towards Muslims are fuelled by media anger and resentment.
> far-right group ‘Britain-first’ is a result of negative media reporting
Initiative aggression
Bandura + colleagues conducted a laboratory experiment seeking to discover the effects on children of viewing violence in media.
> Children were shown a film of an adult behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll - one group of children had an adult come into the room and criticise the adult in the film for his behaviour.
> Another group of children had an adult come in the room and praise the adult in the film for their behaviour.
> In the third group nobody entered the room to pass a comment
this investigation showed the group of children that had an adult come in to criticise the behaviour in the film were the least aggressive.
EXAMPLE - man goes on ‘GTA’ crime spree - man 20 years old said “wanted to see what it was really like to play video game Grand Theft Auto”
EVAL - little convincing proof that video games cause people to commit crimes as many people don’t commit crimes despite playing violent games like GTA.
The new media and cyber crime
significant growth in ransomware campaigns.
Cybercriminals seek to exploit human or security vulnerabilities to steal passwords, data or money directly - the most common cyber threats are:
> Hacking - including social media and email passwords
> Phishing - bogus emails asking for security information and personal details.
> Malicious software - including ransomware through which criminals hijack files and hold them to ransom
Distributed denial of service - attacks against websites often accompanied by extortion.
