media and crime

• MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF CRIME

  media gives a distorted view of crime - news reports dont give a true picture of crime
• MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF CRIME

  EG. overrepresentation of violent or sexual crimes

  exaggerate chances of being a victim of crime

  media creates moral panic of a issue
• MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF CRIME

  news is socially constructed in order to increase profits by their news values on what is 'newsworthy' to be presented
• NEWS VALUES

  eg. celebrities - jameela jamil victim of sexual harrasment

  children - murder of 2 year old bulger by 10 year olds

  violence eg. knife crime
• NEWS VALUES

  influence public opinion and lead to missinformation as news can misrepresent reality of crime to increase profit
• MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF CRIME

  agenda setting - media talk of crime in certain ways, setting limits on what to be shown with a hierachy of access to media with primary definers (police, politican) official views shown not the criminals
• MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF CRIME

  media exaggerates victim chances and unnecessarily increases public fear of crime - PM boudrillard argues hyperreality of crime
• MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF CRIME

  hyperreality of crime - media doesnt reflect crime but creates it as they only know about it through the media which has little connection to real world
• MEDIA REPRESENTATION OF CRIME AO3

  media representations changing and more reflective of reality due to social media. EG. public and primary definer can have their views heard and news outlets now look to social media posts for crime stories.
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  copycat crime - media can cause violent crime as audience (children) may be tempted to copy scenes from films eg. bulger murdered by 10 year old boys copying scene of childs play. Exposure of media violence rose violent crime
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  copycat crime ao3 - cathartic effect of violence in media - gain psychological relief from media violence so they do not need to copy it in real life - positive impact on society and reduces violence
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  adverts increase relative deprivation - left realist argue adverts led to wc wanted consumer goods but they face economic exclusion so feel its unfair and commit utilitarian crime to get what they feel they deserve eg. 2011 london riots
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  desensitisation - constant images of violence and crime in news leads people to distance themself from it and so used to it they no longer feel upset of it.May cause crime as not being affected means theyre more likely to carry it out themself
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  desensitisation ao3 - response to crime is not usually desensitisation but social action eg. response to george floyd
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  media offers new means to commit crime - internet rose cybercrime attempts. COVID lockdown online scams increased eg. fake netflix account. These crimes have low prosecution rates as it shard to trace so not recorded in stats and is dark figure
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  moral panic and deviancy amplification
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  cohen mods and rockers - moral entrepreneurs used media to condemn mods and rockers actions of their scuffles, exaggerating and creating moral panic turning them into folk devils. media coverage led to deviancy amplification and polarisation of mods and rockers gathering more deviancy between the two
• MEDIA AS A CAUSE OF CRIME

  mods and rockers ao3 - deviancy amplification and labels relevant today eg. drill artists
• AO3 HOW RELEVANT IS MORAL PANIC TODAY?

  PM beck - live in a 'risk society' so things that used to generate moral panic no longer do and are normal so we have crime consciousness to protect ourself. Therefore its less easy to define what moral panis is today
• AO3 HOW RELEVANT IS MORAL PANIC TODAY?

  However left realists say moral panic is a reasonable reaction from the public to a real threat of crime - it is not an overreaction