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CRIME AND DEVIANCE (4) - MEDIA - Coggle Diagram
CRIME AND DEVIANCE (4) - MEDIA
MEDIA
REASONS BEHIND CRIME REPRESENTATION
AGENDA SETTING
agenda setting: issues are based on a list of subjects the media formulates
agenda setting is the power to manage what issues the public sees and which are kept hidden
the media give knowledge/ impressions of crime, but can't report every story, so are very selective based on what they think the public is interested in
people form opinions of what they've been informed about by traditional mainstream mass media
social media sites are more likely to provide alternative views of events
people's perception are influenced by what media choose to include/ leave out, regardless of their accuracy
NEWS VALUES
greer and reiner
: sexual/ violent crimes capture the imagination and so are reported on the most by media, and exploit their use to generate audience interest for consumerism
reiner
: crime is filtered through values and assumptions of film writers and journalists of what makes a story worth telling - these are known as news values
jewkes
: the values that influence crime reporting
threshold
- level of dramatics
simplification
- easy explanations = more understanding
risk
- crimes with more victims
graphic images
celebrity
- crimes of celebrities
children
- offenders/ victims
sex
- crimes with sexual aspects are more interesting
violence
conservatism
- crimes with calls for tougher punishments get more attention
PROBLEMS WITH MEDIA REPRESENTATION
media exaggerates, and also exaggerates risks of certain groups, distorting the public perception and causing unrealistic fears
gerbner et al
: heavy users of tv (4hrs+) have higher fear levels of crime
schlesinger and tumber
: correlation of media consumption and fear of crime (esp. tabloid, tv users) show greater fears of being a victim, esp. physical attack/ mugging
greer and reiner
: the media as a cause of crime, however, ignores meanings viewers give to media violence
boudillard
: produces the postmodernist concept of hyperreality, where media do not reflect reality but create it, where crime is only known from media-created images with little connection to the real world
MEDIA CREATION OF CRIME
media can make crime worse, or produce new types of crime, so
greer and reiner
identify the criminogenic effects of the media
MEANS
- teaching criminal processes, encouraging copycat crime, e.g. the murder of james bulger
OPPORTUNITIES
- the rise of cybercrime. the internet facilitates many sorts of offences, from porn to terrorism
MOTIVE
- consumption encouragement -> more targetted goods/ victims. media desensitises us to impacts of crime/ glamourises it, increasing our likeliness of taking part in them
LABELLING
- media affects what acts are criminalised and labelled.
greer and reiner
suggest media has a big impact on who is seen criminal, who police target, sfp, and deviant careers
MORAL PANICS AND DEVIANCY AMPLIFICATION (2)
PROCESS OF DEVIANCY AMPLIFICATION
a small group commits some deviance → media picks up on interesting story → headlines + photos made to gain interest → more public attention = more exaggeration → problematic group = folk devils → moral panic = more awareness = more excitement = more deviance → ↑ social control, ↑ tougher punishments
MODS AND ROCKERS
media created two opposing youth groups (mods and rockers), which started from minor vandalism and small scuffles between the two
media exaggerated and created a moral panic and the mods and rockers became the folk devil, as major threat to public order
police had to stamp down which increased arrests
they initially weren't rivals and not many associated with them, but media's sensationalising encouraged this
MORAL PANICS AND DEVIANCY AMPLIFICATION (1)
hall et al's study of mugging and cohen's on media show how media exaggerate and cause moral panics, labelling deviants as folk devil as a reminder of value consensus
they theorise these moral panics arise during times of uncertainty (e.g. rapid social change, polt./ econ. crises) as deviants are easy scapegoats
this is part of the process of strengthening status quo
moral panics can sensitise police, courts + other agencies due to demands by media to stamp down, creating harsher measures against folk devils
this leads to heavier policing levels, more arrests, stiffer fines, more imprisonment, and changes in law
this could amplify originally minor acts of deviance, or even create deviance where there was none before due to excitement caused by media exaggeration, known as deviancy amplification
mcrobbie and thornton
: moral panics are no longer useful due to increasing diversity in new media; people are sceptical of mainstream, so it's more difficult for them to generate a moral panic
media are moral entrepreneurs - they create/ enforce rules, deciding rules of morality through labelling and stereotypes, which can demonise certain people