Role of the media 20 marker

Question 1

What points are you including?

Answer 1

Newsworthiness
Image of crime is socially constructed
The fictional representation of crime
Labelling
Moral panics

Question 2

Newsworthiness

Answer 2

Journalists make decisions based on new values to decide whether it’s worth covering a story. Certain crimes such as violence and abuse attract more media attention.
Ditton + Duffy - claim that nearly half of the media reports about crime focused on murder and rape, despite the fact that these crimes only make up about 3% of recorded crimes

Question 3

Image of crime is socially constructed

Answer 3

The media creates a distorted image of crime and therefore it can be defined as socially constructed
Felson - claims media reporting about crime reinforces myths about crime

Question 4

The fictional representation of crime

Answer 4

Crime in the media tends to be the opposite of reality
Surrette - calls ‘the law of opposites’ - opposite of official crime statistics
E.g. property crime is underrepresented while violence, drug and sex crimes are overrepresented

Question 5

Labelling

Answer 5

Labelling theorists have identified two processes which they associate with the media

1. Sensitisation – The media makes the public more aware of an issue.
2. Deviancy amplification – The media exaggerates or distorts a problem, making it seem worse than it really is.

Question 6

Moral Panics

Answer 6

Interactionalists - the media contributes to social construction of crime by labelling certain groups as criminal. This is often an attempt by institutions to reinforce control over a group seen as a threat to traditional social order e.g. EMGs / immigrants