Crime (MEDIA)
General
The media gives distorted image of crime - eg, over-representing violence. This is because news is socially constructed on news values which explain media interest. Some see media as cause of crime through imitation and the deviance amplification of moral panics.
Media as a cause of crime - 6 causes
- Imitation
- Arousal
- Desensitisation
- Transmission of knowledge of criminal techniques
- Stimulating desires for unaffordable goods
- Glamourising offending
Medias distorted image of crime
- Overrepresented sexual and violent crime
- Exaggerates police success
- Exaggerates risk of victimisation
- Overplay extraordinary crimes
Fictional representations of crime - SURETTE
Fictional representations of crime follow ‘law of opposites’, they are opposite to real stats:
- Property crime underrepresented, violence, sex and drug crimes over-represented.
- Sex crimes caused by psycho strangers, but real sex crimes mainly committed by acquaintances.
- Fictional villains are high-status, middle-aged, white males.
- Fictional police usually catch criminals.
Moral panics - COHEN - Mods and Rockers
Examined media response to w/c mods and rockers in 60's. Although minor event, media exaggerated it, producing deviance amplification spiral, resulting from:
- Exaggeration and distortion.
- Prediction (predicted further conflict).
- Symbolisation (symbols of the mods and rockers defined them).
Moral panics nowadays on issues such as acid attacks and terrorism.
News values - COHEN AND YOUNG
News not discovered, is manufactured. ‘News values’ (part of manufacturing) are criteria in which journalists and editors decide if a story is newsworthy. Key news values include:
- Immediacy - ‘breaking news’.
- Dramatisation - excitement.
- Personalisation - human interest stories about individuals.
- Higher status - celebrities.
- Simplification - eliminating shades of grey.
- Risk - victim-centred stories about vulnerability.
- Violence.
Media, relative deprivation and crime - LEA AND YOUNG
Media present everyone with image of a ‘good life’ - the norm everyone should conform to. This stimulates sense of relative deprivation and marginalisation felt by groups who cannot afford these goods.