Week 2

Question 1

Common crime myths

Answer 1

• that crime is on the rise
• most crimes are of a violent nature
• offenders are of a particular race or socio-economic status

Question 2

Media and Crime

Answer 2

• volume of crime news varies over time and place
• coverage depends on definition of crime (narrow or broad categories)
• The media is the primary source of indirect knowledge of the crime problem.

Question 3

Types of media

Answer 3

Government Owned
Community Owned
Commercial (Privately Owned)

Question 4

Government owned media

Answer 4

Government media organisations are those owned by the government. In many countries, government ownership equates to government control of the media.

In Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Corporation (SBS) are both owned by the federal government

Question 5

Problems with government owned media

Answer 5

• Government can directly or indirectly (e.g. through budget constraints) control the type and volume of stories broadcast
  …..potential to be used for propaganda or to not report on certain issues
• Happens more in some countries than others

Question 6

Community owned media

Answer 6

• The Australian Communication and Media Authority (the regulator) allocates television and radio licences, including frequencies to community broadcasters.
• Usually funded by the government, membership and advertising.
• Content is usually created by unpaid volunteers (e.g. Channel 31).

Question 7

Problems with community owned media

Answer 7

• Sometimes limited resources

- May rely heavily on media releases and the like for news bulletins with limited investigation

Question 8

Commercial Media

Answer 8

• Privately owned companies that compete to make profits through advertising and program sales.
• More viewers/listeners/readers = ability to charge more for advertising
• Publish/produce stories which attract more viewers/readers etc
• Crime sells!
• Commercial media ownership in Australia is highly concentrated

Question 9

Importance of media ownership

Answer 9

• Decision making
• Democratic process
• Political influence
• Political accountability
• Corporate accountability
• Community voice (esp.remote areas)

Question 10

News values

Answer 10

• Prominence
• Timeliness
• Impact
• Proximity (geographic and emotional)
• Novelty
• Conflict
• Contemporaneousness
• Human Interest

Question 11

Media influence

Answer 11

The effects model

The functionalist model

The institutional model

Question 12

Davis and Dossetor 2010: Misconceptions of crime in Australia

Answer 12

• Survey of 8,133 people
• People’s perceptions of crime are generally inaccurate
• Older survey participants are more likely to hold the inaccurate view that the crime rate is increasing (when there was actually been an overall decline)
• Females (more than males) also incorrectly viewed that crime was increasing
• People with higher education tended to more accurately perceive crime levels
• Media influences many people’s perception of crime, with many over-estimating the volume of crime and trend in crime

Question 13

Schindeler & Ewart (2014), Manufacturing a Crime Wave

Answer 13

• A qualitative content analysis of crime reporting in the Gold Coast local government area
• Analysed print news media reporting, political and policing press releases, and local government material

Question 14

Techniques used to manufacture a crime wave - Schindeler and Ewart 2014

Answer 14

• The use of highly emotive and dramatic language (framing)
• Emotive language was used: ‘crime capital’, ‘crime cancer’ and ‘crime riddled’.
• Reporting that emphasised the extent of the problem often relied on claimed statistical evidence associated with the crime rate and types.

Question 15

The upshot on media

Answer 15

• The media plays a significant role in how people view and interpret crime
• This can significantly influence the fears, perceptions, and social and economic behaviours of individuals and society
• There is often a complex interaction between the media, politicians and others which can drive public policy responses to crime
• As criminologists we therefore need to understand how the media operates and the role it plays in shaping crime debates

Question 16

Selectivity in the media

Answer 16

Rather than rely on statistical data or academic research for information about crime, the media tend to focus on specific types of crime (usually violent) and portray as more typical and a greater threat to the community

Public perceptions about crime can influence the development of public policy around “the crime problem”
agenda-setting or presenting crime in a way to increase the urgency for policy makers to respond to the crime problem

Selective reporting of crime can lead to “moral panics”

Question 17

Prominence

Answer 17

The media tend to report crimes that involve people or organisations who are prominent or well known

• Politicians
• Actors/celebrities
• Sports stars
• Well known companies / businesses

These prominent people or organisations may feature in a variety of capacities (e.g. as victims, offenders, witnesses etc)

Question 18

Timeliness

Answer 18

The media

• tend to report crimes that have occurred recently rather than some time in the past
• tends to present information about crime which focuses of immediate events surrounding the crime, rather than information about the broader social and/or historical contexts

Question 19

Impact

Answer 19

The media tend to report crimes that:
are likely to have a higher impact upon the audience
impact a greater number of people, as opposed to crimes that impact only a small number of people or small segment of the population

Question 20

Proximity

Answer 20

The media tend to report crimes that:

• are geographically closer to the audience (e.g. crimes in your local community or State / Territory as opposed to those that are further away)
• are emotionally close to the audience (e.g. crimes that happen to groups of people who are similar to the audience)

Question 21

Novelty

Answer 21

The media tend to:

• focus on the most unusual and dramatic crime events
  e. g. sexual offences committed by strangers and acts of extreme or unusual violence
• treat rare and unusual crimes as common everyday events
• use dramatic and provocative language in crime reporting for impact

Question 22

Conflict

Answer 22

• Stories that contain two or more parties in conflict are deemed more newsworthy.
  e. g. stories of environmentalists -v- developers; feuding neighbours or businesses.
• The greater the level of conflict, the more newsworthy the story.

Question 23

Contemporaneousness

Answer 23

• The media tends to report stories that fit with (or can give the appearance of fitting with) current events or similar news stories.
• In doing so, the media tends to link events which may have a common theme, but which otherwise are unrelated.

Question 24

Human interest

Answer 24

• Media report on stories that show some positive aspect of human behaviour
• Human interest stories may not contain any of the previously highlighted news values
• Human interest stories tend to be limited in number

Question 25

The effects model

Answer 25

- passive consumers who believe what they see/read/hear - Argues that people are directly effected by what they see and read in the media - Views consumers of media as passive and uncritical - Assumes consumers of media unquestioningly believe the view of crime with which they are presented

Question 26

The functionalist model

Answer 26

- consumers actively chose to engage with certain types of media (e.g. crime) - Views consumers of media as active participants in media consumption - Focuses on consumer engagement with media content for gratification E.g., active choice of dramatic and fictional portrayals of crime and criminals

Question 27

The institutional model

Answer 27

- Media influence is via process of active subjective interpretation mediated by experience and perception - Views media as a powerful institution of social control - By shaping social views of crime and criminals - By reinforcing community attitudes about crime, criminals and criminal justice responses - Consumers actively and subjectively interpret media. - Media shapes social views and reinforces community attitudes about crime, criminals and criminal justice responses

Question 28

Media crime frames

Answer 28

In relation to crime, there are five principal news frames: - Fault criminal justice - Blocked opportunities - Social breakdown - Racist system’ - Violent media

Question 29

Faulty criminal justice frame

Answer 29

The ‘faulty criminal justice frame’ is that people commit crime because: - the criminal justice system is not effective e. g. stories about the length of police investigations, the inadmissibility of evidence, recidivist offenders who commit offences on parole - the criminal justice system does not punish enough e. g. stories about supposed ‘light sentences’ for some offenders; or stories of ‘weak’ judges/magistrates - the criminal justice system is focused too heavily on the rights of the offender (often as opposed to the rights of the victim) e. g. stories about the ‘luxury’ of prison

Question 30

Blocked opportunities frame

Answer 30

The ‘blocked opportunities frame’ is that people commit crime because they are unable to participate in society because: - they have a lack of opportunities (eg. employment opportunities, educational opportunties) - they are in dire circumstances (eg. poverty, homelessness etc) - they are victims of discrimination or social injustice (eg. their opportunities are blocked because of racial background)

Question 31

Social breakdown frame

Answer 31

The ‘social breakdown frame’ is that people commit crime because of social ills such as: - a decline in social values (usually white, middle-class values) e.g. respect for elders etc a decline in morality e.g. not swearing in public etc - increasing levels of divorce, or particular family structures

Question 32

Racist system frame

Answer 32

The ‘racist system frame’ is that whilst all people from all ethic and cultural groups: - People from ethnic and racial minority groups are disproportionally caught and punished (perhaps due to differential enforcement or racism) - People from ethnic and racial minority groups may be more frequently wrongly arrested and convicted

Question 33

Violent media frame

Answer 33

The ‘violent media frame’ is that people commit crime, particularly violent crime, as a consequence of increased exposure to violent media. e. g. news media stories of young people watching violent movies, video games etc before committing an offence. - This frame is often presented alongside other media frames so that the media isn’t portrayed as the sole source of violent crime.