Media Representations of crime Flashcards
What is non-fictional media
Media which claim to report on facts such as the News
How does non-fictional media represent violent and sexual crimes
Over-represent violent and sexual crimes:
46% of media reports were about violent or sexual crimes yet these only make up 3% of crimes recorded by the police.
Marsh: US violent crime 36x more likely to be reported on than property crime
What do statistics say the most common crime is
Property crime
What is the Dramatic Fallacy and who is is by
When the media over-represent extraordinary crimes (eg terrorism/murder) and underplay ordinary crime
Made by Felson
What is the Ingenuity Fallacy
When the media romanticises criminals as being daring & clever
What is the Age Fallacy
When the media portray criminals & victims as older and more MC
What do the statistics show about the most common criminal
More likely to be Young and WC
Who do the media (non-fictional) exaggerate the risk of victimisation for
Women, white people and people of higher status
What do the statistics show for those who are more likely to be victims of crime
WC, males, people form minority ethnic backgrounds
How does the non-fictional media exaggerate police success in solving cases
Police are a source of crime stories and want to represent themselves in a good light.
Also, the media over-represents violent crime which has a higher clear up rate than property crime.
What is an evaluation for non-fictional media exaggerating crime
Certain media outlets represent a more accurate view of crime such as the BBC
Some media outlets report on crimes by police and the powerful, making it more realistic
Why do the media present crime differently to real life
To sell and get readers
What do Schlesinger and Tumber say about if the type of crime coverage is changing and why
1960s media focused on murders and petty crime but by 1990s it became of less interest
Why - due to the increase in crime rates = crime had to be ‘special’ to be featured
Focus widened to include - drugs, child abuse, terrorism
How is sex crime coverage distorted
It is shown to be done by a psychotic stranger - BUT most case, done by someone known by the V
What are the News Values
Criteria by which journalists use to decide whether a story is ‘newsworthy’
What are some of the criteria’s for news values
Immediacy (happening now)
Dramatisation
Higher status - Harry and Megan
Violence
Risk (Vs centred stories about vulnerability and for)
Simplification - Sarah Everard, child abuse and murder
What is Transparency Fallacy
The news is not a neutral window of the world - it is socially constructed and is a result of our social processes, certain stories chosen and others ignored
How does Surette describe the coverage of crime by Fictional Representation
‘Law of opposites’
What are some examples of fictional media (films) exaggerating crime representation
Fictional sex crimes are committed by psychotic strangers - normally done by someone the V knows
Fictional murders are calculated and out of greed - most are impulsive
Police success: police always catch the bad guy - not always
What are some examples on Netflix of crime being over exaggerated
You, Luther, Body Guard, Gangs of London
What is an evaluation point for fictional media exaggerating media
Some fictional programmes are becoming more accurate representation of crime:
- offenders are young, lower class, ethnic minorities
- police shown to be more corrupt
Why is the media representation important
Most people do not have experiences of crime - only info they have will be from the media
What do post modernists think about the idea of media exaggerating crime
Media saturated hyper-reality
Documentaries style - we believe we are seeing the turn but it is a socially constructed narrative + one version of the truth
