Crime in the MediaUnderstanding Criminology

Adapted from Dan Elingsworth, Department of Sociology,

Manchester Metropolitan University

Where is the Media in Criminological Theory?• Labelling theory:

– The establishment of stereotypes and social constructions of criminality in the media is vital in how people interpret the world. The media acts to establish and reinforce labels. (Becker) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq28qCklEHc

• Deviancy Amplification / Moral Panics– Deviant group identity is reinforced by alienation. In larger societies,

deviants are more reliant on mass media. Policing priorities affected by portrayal of social problems. (Leslie T. Wilkins / Jock Young/ Hall ) We did this in deviance section

• Strain Theory– The media, and in particular advertising, is central to the establishment of

people’s goals: economic goals (Merton); conspicuous consumption (Burney) –

– YOU NEED THIS (OR YOU WILL DIE/GET RAPED)– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syjM1dPriBA

Who and what do we need to understand when studying the media?

The “Text”

The AuthorMedia creator

The State

Government

“Primary Definers” Church, voices

The Consumer

“US”

“Discourse”• The ways in which society act and talk about a

subject, to produce meaning (• Meaning – the subjective interpretations,

implications, and assumptions about a subject(in Iran & Saudi Arabia not wearing a Hijab = “slut”)

• Our understanding of topics, therefore, are not taken-for-granted, but are the product of culture

• The influence on discourse is not equal: power is distributed unequally (Gate keepers)

• Associated with the sociology of Foucault

“Effects” of Law and Order Discourses

• Raises public awareness and concerns

• Moral Panic Charlie Booker (Video)

• Influences policy makers (who gets the money)

• Justifies particular responses (Aslinger and Pot)

• Justifies the concentration of power (Homeland security – remember strip search video?)

• Establishes ‘common sense’ explanations (poor, black, youth gangs, etc.)

• Undermines alternative explanations and concerns (abortion laws affecting

Canada

• Statistics Canada (2008)

Media and Crime Connections: Media “Effects” “Hypodermic Syringe” Model: direct, unmediated effects of

media coverage in triggering deviant behaviour, or shaping our reactions to crime– Mass media increasingly important especially amongst the

alienated, uneducated, vulnerable “masses”– moral anxiety about the encouragement of deviant

behaviour: the media is seen in opposition to mainstream moral values

– high culture – mass media undermines the civilizing effects of high culture: right-wing class based analysis, distinguishing different aspects of culture

– mass manipulation – the media represents a tool of the ruling class (remember stratification?)

Criticisms: Reductionist (ignores a range of other factors) and determinist (ignores choices and individual factors)

Media and Crime Connections: Pluralistic Model

• Deregulation of media has lessened the State control of the media

• Greater variety of media sources provide a greater opportunity for a variety of definers and counter-definers to have access to media outlets

• Coherent, unitary media elite is much more difficult to identify

• Example http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/• Criticisms: ignores development of shared / dominant

meanings

Amount of Crime in the Press• Coverage of crime in the press is growing?

– Roshier (1973) • an average of 4% 1938-1967• Higher in tabloid newspapers

– Ditton (1981)• 6.5% of space

– Williams and Dickinson (1989)• 12.7% of “event oriented” news reports• 5.1% in Guardian / 30.4% in the Sun

• Different methodologies are used: difficult to deduce that there has been an increase in coverage

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1lG_SVw9d4

Reiner and Sutherland 1997• Longitudinal analysis of film, television and press

coverage of crime from 1945 -1991• Film: no significant change over time

– 20% crime films: 45-50% containing central crime concerns

• The Press

• TV– Percentage of top ten programmes which were crime

programmes increased from 8% (1945-51) to 12%(1985-91)

Crime Narratives (Reiner et al 1997)

• Murder remains the most common crime portrayed in media

• Property crime has plummeted

• Violent, sexual and drug-related offences have increased

• Critical and negative images of police are highest 1964-1979

• Outcomes for Offenders

Content of Press Crime Coverage

• Focus is on the difference between the media portrayal of crime and criminals, and the picture from surveys and recorded statistics

• Generally, the media are seen as exaggerating the risks associated with crime

• Some commentators see this as part of an attempt to increase support for harsher CJ Responses

Evidence: Types of Crime

• Crimes of violence are disproportionately covered: BCS 6% of all crime is violent

• Murder: accounts for 1/3rd of all reports (Reiner 2000) – also found burglary was receiving less coverage

• Williams and Dickinson (1989): 64.5% of newspaper crime stories are violent

• Cumberbatch (1995): Fatal crime accounted for 38-53% of crime stories

Offenders

• National media : focus on older and higher-status offenders than those processed by the CJS

• Local newspapers: tend to focus on lower-status and ethnic-minority offenders

Victims• Increasingly central to news stories about crime• Exaggerate the risks for

•Higher status•Women•Children and the elderly

• The poor, young and black victims are not given much prominence as victims

Victims

• Increasingly central to news stories about crime– Exaggerate the risks for

• Higher status• Women• Children and the elderly

– The poor, young and black victims are not given much prominence as victims

The Police

• The Police recognise the power of the media, and have at times utilised this power

• “An enduring, if not ecstatically happy, marriage” between the police and the media (Sir Robert Mark, 1971)

• The media is generally supportive of the police

• Police corruption seen as “one bad apple”

Explanations for Media coverage

• Structural constraints on media– Focus on court-based stories emphasises the

success of the police– Police provide most information to the media– “News” is inherently event-dependent: little

time is allowed for deeper analysis (trends, social causes etc.)

– TV crews located behind police lines

Explanations for Media coverage

• Journalists’ Professional Ideology (Chibnall)

Immediacy Titillation

Dramatisation Conventionalism

Personalisation Structured Access

Simplification Novelty

Laissez-Faire Model

• The media is driven by demand economics

• Media focus on sensationalist, prurient, and moralistic stories reflects the desires of the general public

• Ignores other influences (e.g. government)

Explanations for Media coverage

Political Ideology• The press is predominantly conservative

• The media aim to strike a ‘middle ground’ between mainstream political perspectives i.e. a relativistic stance

Political Hegemony• Hegemony (Gramsci) – the way in which the

ruling class brings about consent for their actions, rather than using direct coercion

• the media plays a key role in reproducing or challenging dominant values or interests

• hegemony offers the possibility of competing discourses to appeal to a widest spectrum of opinions

• Example: Stuart Hall et al. “Policing the Crisis”

Considerations1. Who is the most powerful influence in

determining the depiction of crime?• the media itself, the government, or the

general public?

2. What does the media effect? The likelihood of offending, our reactions to crime, or something else?

3. If there are direct media effects, are they equally experienced by all? If not, why not?