Media

Question 1

Social construction by the media:

Answer 1

-News values- risk, dramatisation, personalisation, higher status persons, novelty or unexpectedness, violence, simplication
-Representation of social groups- gender, age, locality, social class, ethnicity, labelling and it’s effects
-Representation of types of crimes
-Media as a contribution to fear of crime- deviancy amplification spiral, moral panic

Question 2

How are people’s perception of crime influenced by the media?

Answer 2

The media chooses to include and not include. They over exaggerate, sensationalise and over report some crimes out of proportion to generate audience interest

Question 3

What are some examples of things that are now illegal now but weren’t before?

Answer 3

-Motorcycle helmets made compulsory (1973)
-Rape within marriage made illegal (1991)
-Smoking ban (2007)
-The psychoactive substance act (2016)

Question 4

What is labelling?

Answer 4

It’s when a person/people are labelled by society or the media which can effect their behaviour

Question 5

Who came up with moral panic?

Answer 5

Cohen

Question 6

What is moral panic?

Answer 6

A feeling of fear due to an exaggerated perception of people such as cultural groups that pose a threat of society’s norms and values.

An example is the UK riots in Aug 2011 when the press reported that 90% of the rioters were unemployed and 14% were immigrants from 44 counties. the press can’t get hold of that info