crime and the media Flashcards
media representations of crime - 4 ways the media distort crime AO1
- over -represent violent an sexual crime
- exaggerates the risk of victimisation = especially to women, whit people and higher class
- exaggerates police success = want to present themselves in a. good light as they are a main source of media stories
- crime is reported as a series of separate events = without structure or examining underlying causes
media representations of crime - 4 ways the media distort crime AO2
46% of media report are about violent or sexual crime yet they make up 3% of crimes reported by the police
changes of coverage of crime
1960s media focus was on petty crime and murder but by 1990s its switched to drugs and child abuse
news values
the criteria which news reporters decide whether the story is newsworthy
key values influencing the selection of stories include:
unexpectedness
dramatisation
higher-status
risk
violence
media representations of crime - fictional representations of crime AO1
knowledge of crime also comes from TV cinema and books
media representations of crime - fictional representations of crime - the law of opposite
Surette - fictional representations are the opposite of the official statistics: for example -
property crime is underrepresented
violence, drugs and sex crimes overrepresented
villains are higher status - usually MC
media representations of crime Ao3 - recent trends of police
recent trends show police as corrupt, brutal and less successful
the media s a cause of crime - ways the media encourages crime (6) (GAPSTI) AO1
glamourising offending
arousal
portraying police as incompetent
stimulating desires for unaffordable goods
transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques
imitation
support for the media causes crime AO2 Bandura
method: children watch either an adult behaving aggressively towards the bobo doll or an adult behaving non-aggressively
findings: when give their own bobo doll to play with children who saw aggression were most aggressive
conclusion: the study suggests that children are likely to imitate acts o violence if they observe it in an adult role model.
the media as a cause of crime AO3 - Livingstone
people are preoccupied with the effects of the media on kids due to our desire as a society to regard childhood as a time of innocence
the media as a cause of crime AO3 - studies shown..
most studies have tended to find that exposure to media violence has at most a small and limited negative effect on audiences
the media as a cause of crime - increasing the fear of crime AO1
the media exaggerate the amount of violent and unusual crime and the risks of certain groups becoming victims = does the media create un realistic fear of crime?
the media as a cause of crime - relative deprivation
left realists argue the media help increase the sense of relative deprivation.
the media presents everyone with images of a materialistic good life this stimulates the sense of relative deprivation and social exclusion in groups who cannot afford these goods.
Merton - the pressure to conform to the norm can cause deviant behaviour - the media set this norm.
the media as a cause of crime - cultural criminology
the media turn crime itself into the commodity that people desire and encourages them to consume crime
we live in a media-saturated society. where there is a blurring between the image and the reality of crime - they’re no longer separable
moral panics
the media labels individuals
Cohen - a moral panic is an exaggerated over reaction by society to a perceived problem and media reaction enlarges the problem out of all proportion to its real seriousness (deviance amplification)
in a moral panic -
the media identifies a group as a folk devil or a threat
