Crime and Media Midterm

Media Def

Tools and technologies used to communicate information.

whats the media

Institutions that produce content for mass audiences.

whats a mediated experince

Learning about an event through media rather than experiencing it firsthand.

whats commodification

Packaging crime as entertainment or information to generate profit.

define looping

Media content is repeatedly reused in different contexts, potentially blurring fact and fiction.This process often leads to a cycle where stories are reinterpreted and reshaped, impacting public perception.

Whats memorial criminal justice policies

Policies named after victims of highly publicized crimes, such as AMBER Alerts.

A highly publicized murder leads to demands for tougher sentencing. what does this illistrate

how media can influence public opinion and criminal justice policy

types of print media

types of print media

Newspapers, magazines, novels

types of sound media

radio, podcasts

types of visual media

film and TV

types of new media

digital, interactive, user-generated content

4 forms of media content

advertisement, entertainment, news, infotainment

advertisment purpose

Persuades audience to consume or take action.

entertainment purpose

Provides enjoyment and escapism.

news purpose

Presents current information as factual and relevant

infotainment purpose

Combines information about real events with entertaining, dramatic presentation.

Penny press (1830s)

Crime connected to class inequality and injustice.

dime novels (1880s)

Shift toward individual immorality and criminal personalities.

yellow journalism (1890s)

Sensational and dramatized reporting

radio (1920s)

Faster, emotionally engaging live reporting.

Television

Crime becomes central to mass entertainment.

New media

Audiences become active participants and co-produce

dominant ideology emphasizes

the influence of powerful institutions.

pluralism emphasizes

media independence and the ability to challenge power.

reception studies challenge

idea that audiences simply absorb messages.

does media control people?

media effects approaches often treat audiences as vulnerable, while reception studies argue that audience are active and interpret messages differently

does media serve the powerful?

critical theories highlights concentrated ownership, underrepresention of corporate crimes etc. while pluarlists emphaize independent journalism, watchdog reporting, and competiting veiwpoints

2 competing media effects arguments

Media cause crime and media cultivate fear (both view media as a powerful influence on audience)

Media cause crime (argument)

associated with conservative concerns, and argues violent media can cause aggression, imitation, or desensitization

media cultivate fear (argument)

associated with liberal concerns and argues that repeated crime coverage may exaggerate perceptions of danger

imitation def

copying behaviour observed in media

Arousal def

Violent media stimulates aggressive emotions

desensitzation

repeated exposure reduces sensitivity to violence

technique

media provides information about how crimes are committed

Desire

Advertising and consumer culture create pressure to obtain material goods

Catharsis

Idea that watching violence releases aggression (not true tho)

Major critisims of Banduras study

striking doll isnt equivialent to violent crime, studied short term behaviour, lacked ecological validity, researchers presence couldve influenced behaviour

social learning

people can learn behaviour by observing or practicing it

excitation transfer

arousal from media (specifically gaming) carries into later interactions

cognitive neoassocation

violent content activates aggressive thoughts and memories

general aggression model

exposure (media) may encourage aggressive beliefs and attitudes

J.B Watson

Bobo doll study; behaviour is shaped by environmental stimuli

Ivan Pavlov

Dog (conditioned responses); influential for stimulus response appraches

Cesare Lombroso

Positivist criminologists; argued criminals are biologically different

Robert Merton

Strain theory; tension between culturally valued goals and legitimate opportunities

Karl Marx

Class, power, capitalmism and ideology

Mass society

People who lacked individuality

Mass society theory

Uneducated ignorant people were more prone to violence. Theory developed due to changes which disrupted traditional community, causing isolation which caused a lack of moral cohesion

Frankfurt school (mass society theory)

Thinks popular culture robs people of the capacity of critical thinking; therefore media controls people’s thoughts and actions

Behaviourism

External stimuli including media can shape observable behaviour and identify

Hypodermic syringe model

Media messages are being injected into people’s minds (views people as passive, vulnerable, and easily manipulated)

Strain theory

Media promotes wealth and success which can increase strain when legitimate resources are limited causing people to take illegitimate routes

Anomie

Decline in community and social order and a rise in alienation and disorder (unable to conform but society stays intact)

Marxism ideology

Media is owned by the bourgeois and is operated in their interest

Hegemony (Gramsci)

Maintaining power through consent not coercion; institutions help make social systems seem natural and normal (eg: education, media, and law)

Labelling theory

Crime and deviance isn’t a product of a sick individual/society. But instead is just a label for certain behaviours make by the ruling class

Pluralism

Doesn’t see the audience as completely passive or media power as completely concentrated

Reception studies

Audience actively interpret media and draw different meanings from identical content

Left realism

Crime and victimization are real social problems; not simply media constructs