Lecture 3- Media Representation of Crime
Over the years we have gained more access to media and ‘knowledge’ of crime through the
expansion of mass media which would have originally taken weeks for us to find out about,
but is now instant:
Newspapers
Film
Broadcast media (TV, radio)
Internet
Social media
CCTV
We are always engaging in media through the internet and new crimes have been formed
because of this like hate crimes and revenge porn
Forms of representation
Factual- newspapers, TV, radio, web news, documentaries
Fictional- TV dramas, films, crime fiction
‘Infotainment’/reality TV- Crimewatch, Cops on Camera, Ross Kemp on Gangs
The extent of crime in the media
Content analysis is used to count how many crimes are recorded the news
Less in the newspaper than TV
More in tabloid than broadsheet
Media massively exaggerates levels of risk of victimisation- women portrayed to be
more at risk when it is more likely to be young men (Naylor 2002)
People are more at risk of petty theft and burglary but violent and sexual crimes
more reported
Who controls the mass media?
Economic control
o Transnational media companies (e.g. News Corp)
o Advertisers- lots of control as they control funding
Political control
o Official Secrets Act
o National Security agenda (counter-terrorism, public order)- not allowed to
publish things that might ruin a case
Regulation
o Ofcom, Independent Press Standards Organisation
E.G. James Bulger murder linked to the film child’s play, so people wanted it banned and for
there to be rules about producing things that incite violence, but this infringes on freedom
of speech
Theories of Media
Radical
Marxist Theory (Marx and Chomsky)
The media is used to keep the elite ruling and the lower class controlled and
supressed
Over the years we have gained more access to media and ‘knowledge’ of crime through the
expansion of mass media which would have originally taken weeks for us to find out about,
but is now instant:
Newspapers
Film
Broadcast media (TV, radio)
Internet
Social media
CCTV
We are always engaging in media through the internet and new crimes have been formed
because of this like hate crimes and revenge porn
Forms of representation
Factual- newspapers, TV, radio, web news, documentaries
Fictional- TV dramas, films, crime fiction
‘Infotainment’/reality TV- Crimewatch, Cops on Camera, Ross Kemp on Gangs
The extent of crime in the media
Content analysis is used to count how many crimes are recorded the news
Less in the newspaper than TV
More in tabloid than broadsheet
Media massively exaggerates levels of risk of victimisation- women portrayed to be
more at risk when it is more likely to be young men (Naylor 2002)
People are more at risk of petty theft and burglary but violent and sexual crimes
more reported
Who controls the mass media?
Economic control
o Transnational media companies (e.g. News Corp)
o Advertisers- lots of control as they control funding
Political control
o Official Secrets Act
o National Security agenda (counter-terrorism, public order)- not allowed to
publish things that might ruin a case
Regulation
o Ofcom, Independent Press Standards Organisation
E.G. James Bulger murder linked to the film child’s play, so people wanted it banned and for
there to be rules about producing things that incite violence, but this infringes on freedom
of speech
Theories of Media
Radical
Marxist Theory (Marx and Chomsky)
The media is used to keep the elite ruling and the lower class controlled and
supressed
