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
Criticisms of Media Causing Crime
Research shows exposure to media violence, has little neg effect
Livingstone - Criticisms of Media Causing Crime
Despite findings, societies still obsessed by desire for childhood to be GA of innocence
Media & Fear of Crime
> Media exaggerate violent crime & risks of certain groups becomming V’s e.g. young w & oap
> Causing unrealistic fear of crime
Tumber - Fear of Crime
>
- media use correlates w/ + levels of fear of crime
> e.g. tabloid & heavy TV users show + fear of becoming a V of mugging or physical attack
Criticisms of Tumber
> Correlation don’t prove media viewing causes fear
> e.g. those already fearful of going out @ night, watch + TV as they stay in more
Greer & Reiner - Fear of Crime
> Ignores ppl give diff meanings to media violence e.g. in cartoons, horror flims & news
> Shows interactionist idea if we want to look @ effects of media, need look @ meanings of what they see & read
Lea & Young - Media, RD & Crime
> Media + RD among poor =, who have media access & presented w/ images of materialistic ideal life to strive towards
> Stimulates RD & social exclusion felt by poor, who can’t afford material goods, so turn to crime
Cultural Criminology - Hayward & Young (Media-Scape)
> In media-saturated society now immersed in media scape incl. images of crime
> Blurs boundary vs image & reality
> e.g. gang assaults staged for camera & put together in underground fight videos
Cultural Criminology - Fenwick & Hayward (Media & Commodification)
> Images of crime used to sell product, so it becomes a style to be consumed & marketed to youth as e.g. romantic & exciting
> Fashion industry trades on images of forbidden brands e.g. Opium, Poison & Obsession & S60
> Works opposite way too e.g. if brands associated w/ criminality it’s banned in pubs & clubs & become tools of classification for potential criminals
Moral Panic
Exaggerated & irrational overreaction by society to a perceived problem.
Criticisms of Definition of Moral Panic
Who decides if societal reaction is overreaction, LR & RR argue ppl’s fear of crime is rational
Process of Moral Panic
> Media see group as threat to societal values, negatively stereotyping them, exaggerates issue
> ME reject behaviour, leads to call for crackdown, creating SFP & amplifies issue causing initial panic
> e.g. special drug squad, so police discover more drug taking
> Crackdown identifies + deviants, calls for tougher action, creates DAS
Moral Panic (KS)
> Cohen (Moral Panic & Mods & Rockers & Wider-Context)
> Functionalism
> Neo Marxist
Cohen - Moral Panic & Mods & Rockers
> 2 teen subcultures were initially friends & not deviant but their were confrontations during easter weekend
> e.g. a few scuffles & minor property damage, exaggerated by media
> Overnight a new folk devil was created & created MP
3 Elements to Media Exaggeration of Mods & Rockers
> Symbolisation
Exaggeration & Distortion
Prediction
Symbolisation - 3 Elements to Media Exaggeration of Mods & Rockers
> Media used symbolic shorthands e.g. hairstyles, clothing & music as icons of troublemakers
> Provided list 2 wider society to beware of these ppl & so negatively labelled
> Media use of symbols allowed them to link, unconnected events
Exaggeration & Distortion - 3 Elements to Media Exaggeration of Mods & Rockers
> Media exaggerated NO’s & seriousness of violence & damage, distorting pic, through sensational headlines
> Non-events even reported as news e.g. invasions not materialising
Prediction - 3 Elements to Media Exaggeration of Mods & Rockers
> Media predicted + conflict would ensue
2 Stages to how Media created DAS
> Making problem appear out of hand
> Amplified deviance defining 2 groups & emphasising supposed diff
Making problem appear out of hand - 2 Stages to how Media created DAS
Led to calls for + control response by police & courts & further stigma of M&R as deviants & - tolerant of them
Amplified deviance defining 2 groups & emphasising supposed diff - 2 Stages to how Media created DAS
> So more youths adopted these styles & attracted + participants for future clashes
> Encouraged SFP as youths acted out roles media gave them
> In large scales societies, most have no exp of event, so rely on media, allowing them to portray them as folk devils
Cohen - Wider Context, Moral Panic & M&R
> MP due to boundary crisis, uncertainty on boundary vs moral & immoral behaviour @ time of social change
> Folk devils give focus to popular anxieties about social disorder
Functionalist view on Moral Panics
> MP responds to anomie created by change, dramatises threat to society through image of FD
> So media raises CC & reassert social control when central values are threatened.
NM view on Moral Panics
> NM used concept of MP e.g. Hall, argue MP on mugging used to distract attention from crisis of capitalism
> Dividing WC on racial grounds & legitimate authoritarian rule.
General Criticisms of Moral Panic
> Why some problems are amplified & others not, why do they die down instead of increasing infinitely
A03 Criticisms of MP (KS)
> LR
> McRobbie & Thornton (Frequency & Context)
LR - Criticisms of MP
> Assumes societal reaction is overtop, but who decides what’s proportionate reaction or panicky 1
> LR feel fear of crime is rational
McRobbie & Thornton - Frequency
Of MP has + so not noteworthy
McRobbie & Thornton - Context
> Little consensus > deviancy e.g. LPF, Pre-Martial Sex,
> No longer seen as deviant, so harder for media to create MP
Global Cyber-Crime (KS)
> Thomas & Loader (Definition of Cybercrime)
> Jewkes (New Opportunities)
> Wall (4 Categories of Cybercrime)
Thomas & Loader - Definition of Cybercrime
Computer-mediated activities illegal or illicit & done through global electronic networks
Jewkes - New Opportunities
Internet creates chance to do conventional crimes e.g. fraud & new crimes w/ tools e.g. software piracy
Wall - 4 Categories of Cybercrime
> Cyber-Trespass
Cyber-Deception
Cyber-Porn
Cyber-Violence
Cyber-Trespass
Hacking others property e.g. spreading viruses
Cyber-Deception
Identity theft e.g. phishing & violation of intellectual property rights e.g. illegal downloading
Cyber-Pornography
Involves minor & chances for kids to access it on the net
Cyber-Violence
Physiological harm e.g. cyberstalking, hate crimes vs minority groups & text-bullying
Policing Cyber Crime
> Difficult due to scale of internet, limited resources of police & globalised nature
> But new ICT, gives police & state + chances to surveil pop
> e.g. CCTV, Electronic Databases, Fingerprints etc
