Media and Crime Lecture Review

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, concepts, and theories discussed in the 'Ongoing Debate About Media Influence' and related chapters regarding media and crime.

Stanley Cohen

A key theorist associated with the concept of 'Folk Devils and Moral Panics'.

Folk Devils and Moral Panics

A concept relating to societal reactions to deviance, often amplified by media, leading to public alarm.

Moral Panic

A period of public fear and anxiety over a particular social issue, often presented by the media as a threat to societal values.

Debunking the Assumptions of the Media Effects Tradition

A critical approach questioning simplistic models of how media directly influences audiences.

Media and Crime

The study of how crime is represented in media and how this affects public perception, policy, and fear.

Framing Theory

A conceptual approach that analyzes how media selects and emphasizes certain aspects of a perceived reality, thereby shaping public understanding and interpretation.

Dominant Media Frames

The prevalent ways in which media present and interpret news stories, often reflecting societal or ideological biases.

Framing Devices

Specific techniques or elements used by media to construct particular frames around a story, such as headlines, imagery, or word choice.

Realism v. Constructivism

A debate concerning whether media representations accurately reflect an objective reality (realism) or actively create and shape our understanding of it (constructivism).

Binary Oppositions

A concept where meaning is created through the contrast between two opposite terms, often used in media to simplify complex issues (e.g., good vs. evil).

News Values

Criteria that journalists and editors use to determine which events are newsworthy, such as predictability, proximity, simplification, and individualism.

Predictability (News Value)

The quality of an event being somewhat anticipated or fitting into existing narratives, making it more likely to be reported.

Proximity (News Value)

The geographical closeness or cultural relevance of an event to the audience, increasing its newsworthiness.

Simplification (News Value)

The ease with which a complex event can be summarized and understood by a broad audience, making it more appealing for news coverage.

Individualism (News Value)

The tendency of news to focus on individual perpetrators or victims rather than broader social causes, increasing its newsworthiness.

Primary Definers

Powerful individuals or groups (e.g., politicians, police) who are routinely given privileged access to media and whose interpretations of events often dominate news coverage.

Trial by Media

The perceived phenomenon where extensive media coverage influencing public opinion about an arrested or accused person leads to a verdict outside of the formal legal process.

Concern (Moral Panic Part)

A heightened level of anxiety or worry within society about a particular group or issue, often driven by media attention.

Hostility (Moral Panic Part)

An increased antagonism or negative sentiment directed towards the 'folk devil' group identified in a moral panic.

Consensus (Moral Panic Part)

Widespread agreement within society that the identified 'folk devil' or issue poses a genuine threat.

Youth as Nuisance

A common media and public perception that young people, particularly certain groups, are inherently troublesome or problematic.

Typifications

The process of categorizing and simplifying complex social phenomena or groups into stereotypical representations, often used in media.

Particularism

A focus on specific individual cases or unique aspects, rather than broader generalizations or societal patterns.

The Colour of Justice

A concept addressing racial bias within the criminal justice system and its portrayal in media.

Stigmatization and Youth Vulnerability

The process by which young people, particularly those from marginalized backgrounds, are negatively labeled and rendered susceptible to further social and legal disadvantage.

Three Strikes Law

Legislation that significantly increases the penalties for individuals convicted of a third serious felony offense, often leading to life imprisonment.

Construction of a Slogan

The media's role in creating memorable, often simplified, phrases or soundbites that encapsulate complex policy initiatives, like 'Three Strikes'.

The Media and the Social Construction of Reality

The idea that media does not just mirror reality but actively shapes and creates our understanding of what is real, especially regarding crime.

Folk Devil

A person or group portrayed in the media as deviant, dangerous, and a threat to societal values during a moral panic.

Moral Entrepreneur

An individual or group who takes the lead in identifying a particular problem (e.g., a form of deviance) and campaigning for its awareness and control, often involving the media.

The Klaas Murder

A prominent case that significantly influenced public opinion and contributed to the push for 'Three Strikes' legislation in California.

Mods and Rockers

Two youth subcultures in the 1960s whose conflicts in the UK were famously amplified by media, becoming a seminal case study for moral panics by Stanley Cohen.

The Transactional Approach to Deviance

A perspective that views deviance as the result of ongoing interactions and negotiations between various social actors, including deviants, control agents, and the media.

Satanic Panic

A widespread moral panic, particularly in the 1980s, driven by fears of organized satanic ritual abuse, often fueled by media and sensationalized claims.

Michelle Remembers

A book that played a significant role in fueling the Satanic Panic by recounting alleged repressed memories of satanic ritual abuse.

Daycare Scandal and Prosecution of Innocent People

Refers to cases during the Satanic Panic era where false accusations of child abuse in daycare settings led to wrongful convictions, often influenced by suggestibility and media hype.

Digital Detective

An individual, often an amateur, who uses online resources and social media to investigate crimes or contribute to cold cases, particularly notable in the true crime genre.

Dark Tourism

Visiting sites associated with death, tragedy, or crime, often featured or inspired by true crime narratives and podcasts.

Narrative Transportation

A psychological phenomenon where an individual becomes deeply immersed in a story, feeling as if they are part of the narrative world, common in true crime podcasts.