crime and the media Flashcards
(9 cards)
how does the media portray crime
overrepresent violent and sexual crime
the media portray criminals and victims as older and middle class - felson - age fallacy
exaggerate police success
media exaggerate risk of victimisation
crimes reported as a series of seperate events
overplay extraordinary crimes
explain news values
cohen and young - news is not discovered but manufactured
news values are a criteria by which journalists and editors decide whether a story is newsworthy enough to make it into the newspaper or bulletin
- immediacy
- dramatisation
- personalisation
- higher status
- simplification
- novelty or unexpectedness
- risk
- violence
news foces on the unusual or extraordinary
how does the media create a fear of crime
the media exaggerate risks of crime and for certain groups
gerbner et al - heavy users of television had higher levels of fear of crime
schlesinger and tumber - correlation between media consumption and a fear of crime
greer and reiner - a lot of effects research on media as a cause of crime / fear of it ignores meanings that people give to media violence
how does the media create relative deprivation
in today’s society the poorest groups have access to media images of the materalistic good life
stimulates sense of relative deprivation and social exclusion felt by marginalised groups who cannot afford these goods
the media are instrumental in setting the norm and thus promotes crime
explain cultural criminology and its relationship to the media
cultural criminology argues that the media turn crime into a commodity that people desire
hayward and young - see late modern society as a media saturated society where we are immersed in the media-scape - and ever expanding tangle of fluid digital images including images of crime
there is a blurring between images and reality of crime
corporations use media images of crime to sell products especially in the youth market - gangster rap and hiphop combine images of street hustler criminality with images of consumerist success.
Fenwick and Hayward - crime is packaged and marketed to young people as romantic, exciting, cool and fashionable cultural symbol
explain moral panics
a moral panic is an exaggerated over-reaction to a perceived problem usually driven / inspired by the media
- media identify a groups a folk devil or threat to societal
- present the group in a negative, stereotypical fashion
- respectable groups condemn their behaviour
calls for crackdown of the group may lead to self fulfilling prophec creating a deviance amplification spiral
cohen’s folk devils and moral panics - two groups of largely working class teenagers at english seaside resorts in 1964 - 1966
Exaggeration and distortion through dramatic and sensationalist headlines
predicted that further conflict would occur
symbols negatively labelled
post-war british society in a time of newfound affluence, consumerism and hedonism of the young. Moral panics occur at times of social change reflecting anxieties
functionalism - response to anomie
how does Thomas and Loader define cyber crime
a computer mediated activity that is either illegal or considered illicit by some and are conducted through global electronic networks
what does jewkes say about cyber crime
internet creates networks and opportunities to commit conventional crime and new crimes using new tools
give the four categories of cyber crime that wall identifies
cyber trespass - crossing boundaries into other’s cyber property
cyber deception / theft - phishing, violation of intellectual property
cyber pornography
cyber violence - psychological harm or inciting physical harm
