Crime Topic 7 - Media Flashcards
What was the focus of crime reporting in the 1960s?
Murders and petty crime
Schlesinger and Turner found that crime reporting in the 1960s primarily focused on these types.
What shift occurred in crime reporting by the 1990s?
Shifted focus to drugs crime, football hooliganism, and terrorism
This shift was influenced by the rising crime rate.
What impact did the abolition of the death penalty have on crime reporting?
Reduced coverage given to murders
What is the media’s preoccupation with crimes of a sexual nature shown by the statistics from 1985 and 1951?
A third of rape cases reported in 1985 compared to just under a quarter in 1951
What labels does the media often use for sexual crime perpetrators?
SEX FIEND, SEX BEAST
These labels suggest psychopathic strangers, distorting reality.
According to Young and Cohen, how is news created?
News is a social construction, the outcome of social processes
What are key elements that determine the news value of a story?
- Immediacy
- Dramatization
- Personalization
- Higher status
- Simplification
- Novelty or unexpectedness
- Risk
- Violence
Why is crime or deviance always newsworthy?
Because it is considered abnormal behavior
What is a moral panic?
An exaggerated over-reaction by society to a perceived problem, often driven by the media
This reaction enlarges the problem beyond its real seriousness.
What are the three key elements within a moral panic?
- The media identify a group as folk devils
- The group is presented in a negative stereotypical fashion
- Moral entrepreneurs condemn the group and its behavior
What study is Cohen known for regarding moral panics?
Cohen’s 1972 study ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’
What were the disturbances examined by Cohen?
Disturbances between mods and rockers at English seaside resorts from 1964-1966
What elements did the media’s inventory of the mods and rockers disturbances contain?
- Exaggeration and distortion
- Prediction
- Symbolisation
What is a deviance amplification spiral?
A cycle where media portrayal leads to increased policing, marginalization, and further deviance
How does Cohen relate moral panics to social change?
Moral panics reflect anxieties about changing values and a boundary crisis
From a functionalist perspective, what do moral panics respond to?
A sense of anomie or normlessness created by change
From a neo-Marxist perspective, what is the purpose of moral panics?
To distract from capitalist crises and divide the working class
Name some recent moral panics.
- Dangerous dogs
- New Age Travellers
- Asylum Seekers
- Immigration
- Child sex abuse
- Aids
- Binge Drinking
- Single Parents
What criticism do some scholars have regarding moral panics?
Assumes societal reactions are disproportionate over-reactions
What does McRobbie and Thornton argue about late modernity?
There is little consensus about what is deviant
What did Ericson et al find about media coverage of crime?
45-71% of quality press and radio news was about deviance and its control
What is the ‘age fallacy’ as described by Felson?
Media portray victims and criminals as older and more middle class than those in the criminal justice system
What is the ‘dramatic fallacy’ according to Felson?
Media overplays extraordinary crimes and underplays ordinary crimes
What is the relationship between media consumption and fear of crime?
Higher media consumption correlates with greater fear of becoming a victim
