The Media and Crime

Question 1

News Values

Answer 1

• Key news values (Cohen) drama, novelty, immediacy, violence- people take more interest so its more likely to b reported
• news is manufactured
• Peelo- coverage of homicide in 3 British papers- only 40% reported
• sexual, monetary gain were more likely to be reported or if the victims were women or children
  x there is variety in media coverage

Question 2

Media representations of crime

Answer 2

• Surrette’s ‘law of opposites’- media focus on certain crimes (calculate murder by a stranger) despite its rarity
• Age fallacy (Felson) victims and criminals are portrayed as older and more middle class
  Duffy- news offers a distorted picture of crime- 46% of news coverage was of sexual or violent crime- this was actually only 3% according to OS
  x feminists- SA is more common than OS suggest

Question 3

Left realism and the media

Answer 3

• relative deprivation
• cultural inclusion, economic exclusion
• the media increasingly exposes individuals to materialism- social media influences, celebrities
• the media makes people feels economically excluded
  x not everyone who experiences relative deprivation commits crime

Question 4

victimisation and crime

Answer 4

• study of why victims are vulnerable
• media causes an exaggerated and irrational fear of crime
• Gerbner- media heavy diet
• exposure to atypical crime
• not necessarily a causal relationship

Question 5

deviance amplification and moral panics

Answer 5

• Stan Cohen
• mods and rockers
• moral panics, folk devils
• polarisation
• harsher policing
• McRobbie and Thomas