Crime & Media - 4.6 Flashcards
Media Rep of Crime (KS)
> Wilson & Dickinson (Media Rep)
> Cohen & Young (Social Construction of News, News Values)
> Mandel (Fictional Rep)
> Surette (Fictional Representation (FR) & Law of Opposites, & 3 Recent Trends)
> Osbourne (Crime as Postmodern Spectacle)
Examples of Media Distortion of Crime
> Overreps violent & sexual crime
> Criminals & V’s portrayed as older & more MC > reality
> Exaggerate police success in clearing up cases
> Exaggerate risk of victimisation
> Reported as series of separate events
> Overplays extraordinary crime
Overreps violent & sexual crime - Examples of Media Distortion of Crime
Most media reports on this area, but made up only 3% of recorded crime
Criminals & V’s portrayed as older & more MC > reality - Examples of Media Distortion of Crime
> e.g. Felson - Age Fallacy
Exaggerate police success in clearing up cases - Examples of Media Distortion of Crime
> Police big source of info & present themselves in positive light talking to Journalist
> Journalist modify rep of police as good, so continue to give them + info
Exaggerate risk of victimisation - Examples of Media Distortion of Crime
e.g. of women, white ppl & MC+, but in reality their - likely to be V’s
Reported as series of separate events - Examples of Media Distortion of Crime
Rather than being linked to underlying causes & no discussion on what these are
Overplays extraordinary crime - Examples of Media Distortion of Crime
> e.g. Feslon - Dramatic Fallacy e.g. media wants to focus on dramatic crimes to get ppl enagaged.
Social Construction of News - Cohen & Young
> Media gives distorted pic of crime, so is SC, news isn’t discovered but manufactured
> Not simply out their to be collected, rather process of selection/rejection occurs
> So some stories are selected & others rejected
News Values - Cohen & Young
Criteria used to decide if story is newsworthy enough & has + chance of making news if it meets values
Examples of News Values
> Risk: V stories on vulnerability & fear
Violence: Visual & spectucular acts
> Celebrities > Unexpectedness > Personalisation: Human interests stories about individuals > Immediacy: Breaking News > Dramatisation: Action & Excitement > Simplification: Clear stories
RV CUPIDS
Link vs News Values & Crime
Media give lots of attention to crime as it focuses on unusual & abnormal behaviour, making it + newsworthy
Mandel - Fictional Representations
> From 1945-85, 10 bil crime thrillers sold & 20% of films are crime-related
> So influence our understanding of crime.
Surette - Fictional Representation (FR) & Law of Opposites
> FR are direct opposite to OS = news coverage e.g. property crimes is underep & violence & sex crime are overep
> FR of sex crimes are done by psychopathic stranger, but irl usually acquaintances
> FR of cops always seen as getting their man, but lots of crimes are unsolved
Surette - Fictional Representation (FR) & Law of Opposites (3 Recent Trends)
> ‘Reality’ now feature young, non-white offenders.
>
- tendency to see police as corrupt & brutal
> V’s more central, w/ law enforcers seen as avenger & audiences invited to identify w/ suffering
Osbourne - Crime as Postmodern Spectacle
> Media reporting of crime driven by need for a spectacle.
> Engaging as audiences are repelled by activities & fascinated @ = time.
Media as a Cause of Crime
> Tumber (Fear of Crime)
Greer & Reiner (Fear of Crime)
> Lea & Young (Media, RD & Crime)
> Hayward & Young - Cultural Criminology (Media-Scape)
> Fenwick & Hayward - Cultural Criminology (Media & Commodification)
General view on Media as cause of Crime
> Negative effect on young & WC, rap lyrics, horror films & games
> e.g. GTA criticised for encouraging violence & criminality.
Ways in Media Causes Crime
> Imitation > Arousal > Desensitisation > Transmitting Knowledge > Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods > Glamourisation of Offending
Imitation
Copycat behaviour e.g. deviant role models
Arousal
Viewing violent /sexual imagery.
Desensitisation
Repeated violent/sexual imagery.
Transmitting Knowledge
Of criminal techniques
Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods
e.g. through advertising leading to innovation/LR & RD
Glamourisation of Offending
Making it seem cool