Media and Crime Flashcards
(37 cards)
How are criminals portrayed in fictional media?
As super villains (e.g. Moriarty), stupid or psychopathic (Dexter), or rational planners (Danny Ocean).
How are victims portrayed in fictional media?
Females as helpless, males as vigilantes.
How are the police portrayed in fictional media?
Ethnic majority, super intelligent (e.g. Sherlock), or bumbling (e.g. Clouseau), but they always catch the criminal.
How are criminals portrayed in factual media?
As working class, young men, and often from ethnic minorities
What is ‘missing white woman syndrome’?
Media focuses heavily on missing white females while ignoring missing ethnic minority victims.
How are police portrayed in factual media?
As corrupt, brutal, racist, or incompetent.
What are Galtung and Ruge’s news values
Immediacy, dramatization, personalisation, status, simplification, novelty, risk, and violence.
What is the main effect of dramatization in crime reporting?
it turns crime into a spectacle that fascinates and repels viewers (Kidd-Hewitt & Osborne).
What did Postman mean by “infotainment
Crime stories are reported as sensational entertainment rather than serious news.
What is Surette’s ‘Law of Opposites’?
Media shows the opposite of real crime stats: overrepresenting violent crime and female victims.
What do functionalists say about media and crime?
Media reflects public concern and helps maintain social solidarity.
What do pluralists argue about media crime reporting?
Media is diverse, reflecting a variety of viewpoints and public demands.
What do Marxists argue about media’s focus on crime?
It reflects ruling class ideology: WC crime is over-reported, elite crime is under-reported.
Why is corporate crime often ignored, according to Marxists?
Because it threatens the image of the ruling class, who control media narratives.
How does the media help control the working class?
By focusing on their crimes, it reinforces stereotypes and justifies policing and inequality.
How does the media portray women in crime reporting?
As passive victims or sensationalised in sexual crimes.
What do feminists say about reporting of violence against women?
It is underreported or trivialized, especially domestic violence.
How are sex crimes against women treated in the media?
Often sensationalised for entertainment rather than taken seriously.
What do Interpretivists say about crime and media?
Both are social constructs; media labels who is deviant (moral entrepreneurs).
How does the media act as a ‘moral entrepreneur’?
It defines norms by deciding what and who is deviant.
What does Baudrillard argue about crime and media?
Media doesn’t reflect reality, it creates it. People only experience crime through its media representation.
How does postmodernism explain public understanding of crime?
Most people base their perception of crime on media portrayals, not lived experience.
What is the imitation theory of media and crime?
People copy crimes they see in the media, e.g. someone reenacting GTA.
What is the “School of Crime” effect?
Media can teach people how to commit crimes and avoid detection.
