The Media and the Police Flashcards
(25 cards)
Why should we be concerned about police and media?
Media are not neutral; they shape and reflect fears about crime and insecurity (Stenson & Croall, in Leishman & Mason, 2011).
What are four key reasons media representations of the police matter?
Legitimacy – shapes public support
Experience – most people don’t interact with police directly
Accountability – media as a watchdog
Operational aid – appeals for help, e.g. missing persons
What is the radical perspective on media-crime effects?
Media promote dominant capitalist ideology -police almost propaganda
Create ‘false consciousness’ -the media actively divert the working class from thinking about their own interests
Demonise oppressed groups
Legitimise powerful institutions (e.g. police)
What are ‘folk devils’?
Scapegoated groups (e.g. youth, minorities) blamed for societal issues, diverting attention from real systemic problems.
What is the conservative/moralist view on media-crime effects?
Media are subversive and criminogenic -undermine respect for the law and cause crime
Erode values, glamorise crime -Mary Whitehouse -worried about the impact of sex and violence in media
Encourage copycat behaviour
Undermine legitimacy of institutions -challenges the respect for the law and police
What are two models of the media on peoples behaviour?
Hypodermic model – direct injection of behaviour/attitudes
Cultivation model – long-term exposure shapes attitudes (desensitises and disinhibition)
What were the findings of media effects research?
Correlation ≠ causation
however there is some correlation between behaviour and media consumption
suggest some concerning effects of consumption on children (e.g. mental health, sexual behaviours)
Who researched the mental health concerns of media?
Jonathan Haidt - ‘The Anxious Generation’
What does Haidt (2024) argue in The Anxious Generation?
Rise in youth mental health issues linked to smartphone and social media use, especially among girls
What are the dominant (radical) views of media’s role in policing?
Media act as an extension of police power
Political affiliation of the media is conservative e.g. “Tory Press”
Police are ‘primary definers’ of crime stories e.g. police control info released to press
Media construct moral panics that justify authoritarian law and police forces
What are the ‘subversive’ (conservative) views of the media and policing?
Media undermine the police
Promote crime through exposure
Highlight misconduct (e.g. Rough Justice, The Secret Policeman)
How were the effects of the media researched?
observation of young children’s behaviour
self reported media consumption (comparing violent offenders and non offenders)
analysing if trends in psycho-social disorders (e.g. mental health, addiction, drug use) relate to trends in the media
What is a critique of the research on media’s effects on behaviour?
a conservative bias -almost looking to prove that the media is bad for people - particularly the psychological experiments
Effects are complex, not direct -findings are very inconclusive
people obsorb information and ideas differently
What are two ways in which people obsorb information and ideas?
‘Passive dopes’
‘Active interpreters’
What is ‘faction’ or ‘infotainment’?
Mixing factual content with entertainment to attract viewers (e.g. Police Interceptors, Crimewatch)
What is the balanced view of factual representations of policing?
- Both radical and conservative views are simplistic
- Media often favour police but not by design- Positive portrayals are not deliberate conscious bias but from the nature of the news making process and Negative portrayals can drive reform and hold police to account
- News values and newsworthiness (e.g. spectacle and unusual events) shape coverage
- The focus on serious/violent crime unintentionally presents the police a ‘protectors’ and exaggerates their effectiveness
- The proximity of the police and journalists - a mutually beneficial relationship
How was the police portrayed in early popular culture?
As comical or incompetent (e.g. Keystone Cops, Ask a Policeman, Much Ado About Nothing)
Or as outwitted by brilliant amateurs (e.g. Sherlock Holmes)
How did police portrayals shift post-WWII?
1950s–70s: Heroic portrayals
1970s+: More critical/realistic -less propaganda, less positive
Late 20th century: Fragmentation in representations -no dominant picture of policing being presented
What was The Blue Lamp (1950) about?
Pro-police film showing the police restoring order after a murder; part of post-war moral uplift.
What is Reiner’s ‘dialectical analysis’ of police TV?
Certain shows reflect and define eras of British policing (e.g. Dixon, The Sweeney, The Bill).
How did ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ depict policing?
Traditional ‘bobby’
Police as moral, steady, social caretakers
Crime seen as social problem -by the end of episode, society would be united again
Reflects common post-war values
How did ‘The Sweeney’ present policing?
Police as tough crime fighters, morally flawed individuals
Crime caused by evil individuals
Societal collapse, naive public and senior officers
Reflects 1970s political crisis and law-and-order politics -disputes between labour and conservative approaches (police siding with tories)
How did ‘The Bill’ depict policing?
Combined care and control -order maintenance, social service
Showed modern, diverse police (women/ethnic minority officers)
Tackled real issues (e.g. DV, racism)
Offenders weren’t evil- showed the social issues that underlie crime
Linked to community policing reform
What are trends in 21st-century fictional police portrayals?
Nostalgia (Heartbeat)
Escapism/pure entertainment (Midsomer Murders)
Complexity, corruption (Line of Duty)
Realism (The Responder)
Diversity/Changing demographic of police (Luther, Happy Valley)
‘High policing’/ security threats (The Bodyguard)
