Crime and the media Flashcards
name 3 of the news values
violence, risk, human interest
missing white woman syndrome
victim that is likely to make news cycle = white m/c woman as she fits the stereotypes
which sociologist is associated with the idea of the dramatization of crime?
hewitt and osbourne
infotainment
information and entertainment
example = tv informs and entertains the audience
which type of crimes are over represented in the media?
violent crimes
what are the 4 stages of the fear of crime cycle?
media causes fear, stay home, consume media, fear more
Kidd-Hewitt + Osbourne
see media reporting of crime as increasingly driven by the need for a spectacle (dramatisation)
spectacles are engaging because audiences become both repelled by the activities but fascinated at the same time
Postman
media coverage of crime is increasingly a mixture of entertainment and sensationalism leadting to what postman refers to as ‘infotainment’
Surette
law of opposites - media shows direct opposite of official statistics e.g. media focuses on murders and violent crime when most crimes in the UK are property based crimes
Functionalism
In reporting crime the media helps to keep social solidarity
Crimes reported tend to reflect the things people are most concerned about and most want to see reported, thus they create demand which is met by the media
Marxism
The reporting of crime reflects the ideology of the ruling class:
- crimes of the ruling class are under-reported
- crimes of the working class are over-reported
- reporting of crime is used as a way of maintaining control over powerless groups
- media’s emphasis on sexual and violent crime means less importance is attached to wcc and cc
Feminism
- crime reporting reinforces the stereotyping and oppression of women
- women portrayed as victims
- under reporting of violence against women, especially domestic violence
- highly critical of reporting of sex crimes against women as a way to provide entertainment
Interpretivists
- media is a social construction as is crime
- look at the labels attached to people who are determined to be deviant and see the media
as a moral entrepreneur which determines who are deviant and who are not
Postmodernism
Baudriallard = media creates reality - people have no understanding of crime only tje representations of crime they experience through the mass media
Hypodermic Syringe Model
suggests that media audiences are passive recipients of the messages from the media
suggests that the media has a direct and powerful influence on its audience, like a syringe injecting information directly into the mind.
Media as a cause of crime
Imitation
the idea that people will act out the crimes and the violence that they view via the media. e.g. college students who acted out scenes from GTA
Media as a cause of crime
Desensitisation
watching violence in the media can lead to the lowering of peoples level for shock value meaning that they no longer are horrified by it and can be more likely to commit/act themselves
Media as a cause of crime
Deprivation
links to the left realism and strain theory - the idea that the media provides unobtainable ideas of lifestyles of the rich and famous which can lead to people committing crime to achieve these lifestyles
Media as a cause of crime
Glamorisation
Tv shows such as Sopranos provide a glamorised view of the criminal lifestyle which can lead to people wanting to emulate it and be involved
Fear of crime cycle
1) Media causes a fear of being a v of crime
2) Spend more time at home
3) Consume more media
4) Generates more fear of crime
Examples of modern Moral Panics
- Black Mugging (1970’s)
- Satantic Child Abuse (1980’s)
- Knife Crime
Criticism of Moral Panic Theory
(McRobbie and Thornton)
- Frequency = frequency of MP has increased
- Context = in the past MP would scapegoat a group and create ‘folk devils’, today there are many viewpoints and values in society
- Reflexivity = because the concept of MP is well-known, some groups actually try to create one of their own benefit
- Difficulty = because there is less certainty about what is unambiguously ‘bad’ today, MP are harder to start
