Crime and Media FINAL EXAM Review

Moral Panic

• Originated in British Sociology in the 70s with Stanley Cohen’s Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The creation of the Mods and Rockers

• Public and political reactions to minority or marginalized individuals and groups who appear to be some kind of threat to consensual values and interests

• Ex. The Superpredator’s Scare

Folk Devils

• Individuals or groups viewed as a threat, often in the context of moral panics, leading to societal concern and exaggerated reactions.

Deviance

Social Construction Theory

• reality is shaped through social interactions and interpretations

• claim makers shape how social problems are defined in the media

Define Media

• to mediate (connect/convey)

What are the two types of Media?

Traditional and New Media

Modern Nationalism

• the sense of belonging to a nation as an abstract but powerful community

Old/Legacy Media vs. New Media

• The difference between old and new media is not in terms of content, but lies in access to content, distribution of content, and creation of content

Define News Values

• the value judgements that journalists and editors make about the public appeal of a story and also whether it is in the public interest

What are the 12 news values?

1. threshold

2. predictability

3. simplification

4. individualism

5. risk

6. sex

7. celebrity individuals

8. proximity

9. violence or conflict

10. visual imagery

11. children

12. conservative ideology

Threshold

• a level of perceived importance in order to be considered as newsworthy

Predictability

• unpredictability gives a story novelty value, but a predictable story allows news organizations to plan their coverage in advance and deploy their resources accordingly

Simplification

• Reducing the story to its core parts or themes to make it to the headlines

Individualism

• highlighting personal stories and reactions

• relatability

Risk

• When the media doesn’t focus on ways to prevent crime or stay safe, they instead exaggerate the crimes by playing into the communities fears

Sex

• Over-reporting of sex-related crimes

Celebrity/ high status

• The threshold for attracting attention is much lower with these people

• They make lesser known crimes turn into headlines

Proximity

• spatial vs cultural

• how close something is geographically vs. relevance to the audience

Violence/Conflict

• Used to dramatize and intensify,  by capturing the audience’s attention

Visual Imagery

• News reports with this makes it feel immediate and real, leaving a lasting impact

Children

• any offence, particularly those that deviate from the moral consensus, is made eminently more newsworthy if they are involved

Conservative Ideology

• This and the media share a close relationship

• The media’s focus on specific groups’ deviance shapes a divided society 

Media Effects

Two main effects research:

1. Mass Society Theory (Sociology)

2. Behaviorism (Psychology)

Mass Society Theory

• the common people are seen as vulnerable to the influence of the media due to traditional social ties and respect for traditional authorities becoming loosened

Behaviorism

• Individuals’ behavior is caused by external stimulation

What is a meta-analysis

• a research method for systematically combining and synthesizing findings from multiple quantitative studies in a research domain

War of the Worlds Case Study - 1938

• During the depression era, a time of economic unrest and unemployment, a radio transmission of H.G. Wells’ novel was believed to be a real event

• A notable metaphor for the media’s harmful influence as it represents the belief in media’s power to cause negative consequences

The Bobo Doll Experiement Case Study - 1960

• Albert Bandura’s Experiment conducted at Stanford University

• Children were shown violent films featuring Bobo Dolls and the children’s behavior towards the dolls was then measured after exposure

• They found that children exposed to violence acted aggressively towards the dolls, suggesting a link between “screen violence“ and juvenile aggression

• However, it was widely discredited by modern media scholars due to flaws and inconsistencies in the experiment

Cultivation Theory

• George Gerbner - 1960s

• The theory argues that heavy TV viewing cultivates exaggerated perceptions of crime and societal danger.

Article: Television News and the Cultivation of Fear of Crime

• RQ: How does local TV news coverage of crime relate to public fear of crime?

• Results: when people are exposed to a lot of crime news on local TV, they tend to feel that crime is a more significant threat, even if actual crime rates are low

• Challenges the idea that fear of crime is only influenced by local crime rates and emphasizes how the media plays a role in shaping public views of crime

• Suggests that media outlets and policymakers should aim for balanced and accurate crime reporting

Dominant Ideology - Marxism and Media Power

• When the media is controlled by the ruling class, promoting their interests and silencing alternative views

• Crime is defined by the ruling class; media fuels public fear and supports state control

• Gramsci’s Hegemony: consent for ruling class values is gained through cultural institutions (media, law, etc)

Critical Criminology

• crime as a product of social conflict, especially that which arises from class-based inequalities and power dynamics within society

Dominant Ideology - Political Economy of Media

• structural conditions under which media operate

• “Who owns the media?“

• A reinforcement of the status quo

Assessing Marxist Media Theory

• provides some insight into what information is disseminated and why

• audiences depicted as passive receivers

The Roots of Pluralism: Functionalism

• Focuses on consensus in society rather than conflict - how the social order is maintained

• The media are considered to have a key function in promoting a healthy society (by providing knowledge, social values, etc)

Pluralism

• stresses the benefits of the media

• The media industry being deregulated and competitive is a good thing as it allows for greater freedom and diversity

• Audiences now are considered knowledgable and sceptical

Assessing Pluralism

• Is there really a diversity of opinion when dominant narratives are still prevalent?

• has it led to the dumbing down of content?