Media Representations Flashcards
Whta type of society do we live in today in terms of the media?
Media saturated - a S dominated + influenced by the media
its our main course of knowledge about crime
What do Howard + Young (2012) argue that advertisers have turned crime into?
Turned it into a consumer spectacle
= tool for selling products in a consumer market
Crime = become a integral part of media infotainment (crime packed as entertainment)
Many issues discussed in relation to c+d are based on topic that the media tell the public are important
What is this influence called?
Known as agenda setting
Media cannot report every crime that occurs - very selective
When did the mass shooting in Pulse nightclub take place?
12th June 2016 (made international news)
Along with the Pulse shooting, how many other mass shootings were there from January - June 2016?
What does this shoe the media may be influenced by?
136 separate mass shootings (7 occurring in same week as Pulse)
BUT these received little to no International coverage
Shows media representations may be influenced by what people believe about crime, regardless of whether its accurate or not
What did Williams + Dickinson (1993) find about the newspaper space given to crime stories?
BIG DIFFERENCE
The Sun: 30% vs The Guardian: 5%
What % of crime reporting did Williams + Dickinson find involved violent crime?
65%
Despite the fact that these crimes make up 6% of recorded crime
What did Williams + Dickinson say the development of media technologies has led to?
Even higher public awareness of their risk of victimisation
What type of crimes does the media over-represent?
Violent + sexual crimes
Creates distorted image of crime
What did Marsh (1991) ID?
Studied newspaper reporting in USA
Found violent crimes = x36 more likely to be reported than property crime
What are the 2 concerts that Felson uses to describe the way that the media portrays crime?
Age Fallacy: portrays V’s + criminals as older, more mc than those typically found in CJS
Dramatic Fallacy: exaggerates extraordinary crimes + underplays ordinary crimes
What are the 2 reasons that the media over exaggerate police success rate in clearing up cases
- Police = major source crime stories, want to paint in a good light
- over-represents violent crime, has higher clean up rate than property crime
What does Surette (2010) argue that the media creates?
Creates ‘backwards law’
Constructs images that = backwards misrepresentations of reality
Is news a social construct?
YES
Doesn’t exist without a journalist wanting to gather + write about it
= outcome of social process which some potential stories = selected whilst others rejected
Which sociologists note that news isn’t discovered but manufactured?
Stan Cohen + Jock Young
More recently Jewkes (2011)
Stories = assessed in terms of ‘news values’
What are news values?
Criteria by which journalists + editors decide whether a story = newsworthy enough to make it into news
List the 10 news values
- Immediacy
- Dramatisation
- Personalisation
- Proximity
- Higher status persons + celebrities
- Simplification
- Sex + violence
- Graphic images
- Children
- Risk
Describe Baudrillard’s concept of hyper-reality
Suggests media doesn’t reflect reality of crime but activity creates reality using media images
Means we have an unrealistic fear of violent + unusual crime + who likely Vs are
What does Cashmore (2012) argue about the fear of crime?
Functional fear
Suggests a certain level of fear of crime = desirable IOT inspire problem solving
Also encourages individuals to take measure to minimise own risk
How might the media cause more crime? (5)
Reiner
- Copycats
- Arousal (due to sexual/ violent imagery)
- Transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques
- Medi stimulates desire for unaffordable goods
- Glamorising offending
Why does Schramm (1961) argue that the media doesn’t cause more crime to occur?
Media exposure to violence has a small + limited effect on children
Majority of children seem to be unaffected
BUT cases such as James Bulger - copy scenes from film
Why does Sparks (1992) argue that the media doesn’t cause more crime to occur?
Takes an interpretivist view
Argues must consider the meanings that viewers give to violence
e.g. different meaning = given to violence I cartoons/ horror films
How can Lea + Young’s concept of relative deprivation be used to explain how the media ca cause more crime?
Media only emphasis relative deprivation
Full of materialistic goods
Not whole explanation, marginalisation = also cause
What do McRobbie +Thornton (1995) argue about the concept of moral panic in the New Age of media?
= no longer useful for understanding crime
= outdated in age of new media;
1. New media tech = sophisticated e.g. twitter/ FB, youtube
2. Audiences = more sceptical
3. Short shelf lives, news = 24/7, reported minute to minute basis, constantly changing
4. Hall (2012): moral panic = ‘zombie concept’, died out but still considered as active process within S
What do postmodernists argue about the concept of moral panic in the new age of media?
Argue that = so much information + opinions of events available to public that they’ve become more sceptical of mainstream reports + = likely to ignore them
What does Hall (2012) argue about the concept of moral panic in the new age of media?
= zombie concept
Has died out in modern media age but = still considered an active process within S
What % of the world is online?
50%
What does Jewkes (2003) argue that the internet has creates?
Opportunities to commit both conventional crime (fraud) + ‘new crimes using new tools’
What are the 4 types of cyber-crime categorised by Wall (2001)?
- Cyber-tresspass: crossing boundaries into others cuber property e.g hacking, spreading viruses
- Cyber-deception + theft: includes ID theft, illegal downloads
- Cyber-pornography: includes porn of minors/ children being able to access it on the net
- Cyber-violence: psychological harm/ inciting physical harm e.g. stalking, hate crimes
Why is policing cyber-crime so difficult?
Due to sheer size of the internet + limited police resources
Global nature of cyber-crime poses additional problems of jurisdiction
