Media, Crime, and Perceptions Flashcards

Flashcards based on lecture notes covering media effects, moral panics, cultivation theory, media framing, and perceptions of crime.

What is the average daily screen time worldwide across all age groups, and what percentage of waking life does it represent?

Nearly seven hours per day, equating to average persons spending more than 40% of their waking life in front of a screen.

How is Media Effects defined in the notes?

The concept that exposure to media has an effect on behaviour (e.g., young people exposed to violent media will behave aggressively).

What is the cultural studies concept of active audiences?

The concept suggesting that people do not passively consume media messages; instead, the meaning of messages is negotiated or constructed by an interaction between the persons who produced the image and the audiences who consume it.

What does the subdiscipline of cultural criminology explore?

It explores the links between culture, crime, and crime control in contemporary social life.

How does mainstream media coverage differ between white men and Black and Indigenous people?

White men tend to receive sympathetic treatment by mainstream media, whereas Black and Indigenous people face a counter-bias, even when they are victims of crime.

What is the problem frame in crime media reporting?

A frame used by news organizations and popular media that focuses on the existence of something extraordinary and "bad" that affects many people to generate an easily understood narrative that sells.

What occurred during the 1970s London "war on mugging" despite increased arrests and higher sentences?

The actual number of robberies did not change throughout the entire "war on mugging".

How does Stanley Cohen's notion of moral panic explain perceptions of rising crime rates?

It explains how the belief that a particular crime is on the rise justifies a change in activities (such as increased policing) that in turn makes it look like the crime rate is on the rise even when it is not.

What is Exceptional White Male Syndrome?

Mainstread media portrayals of white men as exceptional outliers who do horrific things, but are actually nice people who suddenly snapped.

What is the definition of a Moral Panic?

A phenomena social construccted by the media, politicians, and moral entrepreneurs, in which a certain people or groups are labelled or stigmatized as the cause of a perceived social problem, resulting in widespread public alarm.

What is a Moral entrepreneur?

A person, gorup, or organization that takes the lead in identifying certain behaviour as deviant and in need of legal sanctions.

What is the "If it bleeds it leads" rule in news media?

The concept that the more violent or graphic a crime, the more attention it gets from the media and audience.

What is the "Man bites dog phenomenon"?

The rule that uniqueness and rare stories get run, which distorts our perception of the normal rate of occurrence.

What is the Cultivation Thesis and who developed it?

Developed by George Gerbner in the 60's, it states that long term exposure to television shapes how people view social reality.

What did a 1990s study reveal about 11-year-old children's cable TV viewing habits?

By 11 years old, individuals had watched about 11 000 hours of cable tv showing brutality.

What is Mean World Syndrome and what threshold triggers it?

The concept that the more violent media someone consumed, the more hostile they believe the world is; consuming more than 4 hours per day leads people to believe the world is more violent than it actually is.

What specific behavioral changes can result from Mean World Syndrome?

Becoming more distrustful, more likely to buy a gun, more likely to buy a guard dog, and more tolerant of police brutality.

What is the Post-hoc Fallacy in media and crime analysis?

Looking for an explanation or placing blame on media after a violent event occurs (e.g., blaming Marilyn Manson, Doom, Natural Born Killers, and Basketball Diaries after Columbine).

How does framing in media promote fear regarding crime?

By only looking at parts of stories to alter perceptions, such as presenting school violence as getting worse when statistically it is not, and focusing on unpredictability and randomness.