Crime and Media: A Reader Notes- the social production of news

Crime and Media: A Reader

General Information

  • Editor: Chris Greer

  • Publisher: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York

  • First Published: 2010

  • ISBN Information:

    • ISBN10: 0-415-42238-8 (hbk)

    • ISBN10: 0-415-42239-6 (pbk)

    • ISBN10: 0-203-89478-2 (ebk)

    • ISBN13: 978-0-415-42238-3 (hbk)

    • ISBN13: 978-0-415-42239-0 (pbk)

    • ISBN13: 978-0-203-89478-1 (ebk)

Introduction: Context

  • The reading includes the work of Stuart Hall, Chas Critcher, Tony Jefferson, John Clarke, and Brian Roberts.

  • The central piece discussed is "Policing the Crisis" which critically analyzes

    • State power,

    • Law and order,

    • The racialization of crime, and

    • The criminalization of youth.

  • Set against the backdrop of the economic recession of the 1970s and cultural tensions within Britain's inner cities.

Theoretical Frameworks

  1. Althusser’s Theory of the State

    • Focuses on how state power operates through ideological means, emphasizing control through consent rather than coercion.

  2. Gramsci's Theory of Hegemonic Control

    • Describes the dominance of certain ideologies over others in society, emphasizing how hegemony maintains control.

  3. Moral Panic

    • A public reaction that is disproportionate to the actual events, exemplified by the media's framing of street robberies or 'muggings'.

Media's Role in Social Production of News

  • Autonomy of State Institutions:

    • Institutions such as the police and judiciary function autonomously yet collaboratively reproduce the dominant ideology.

  • Primary Definition:

    • Refers to how the media come to define news events based on the influence of elite sources.

    • According to Hall et al., the media doesn't merely report facts; it involves a process of categorization and engineering meaning.

  • News Selection:

    • Newsworthiness is assessed based on several 'news values' including:

    • Extraordinary events (e.g., disasters, dramatic incidents),

    • Events involving elite persons,

    • Personalization of events (human-centric stories).

The Process of News Creation

Social Construction of News

  • News is described as a product of selecting from billions of occurrences based on social constructs.

  • The media's organizational structure influences news direction, allocation of resources, and types of events reported.

  • Criteria for selection largely depend on:

    • Good News Values: Sensationalism, public interest, familiarity, and societal relevance.

    • Contextualization: Events must be framed and given context to be understood by audiences, which involves naming and defining events relative to known social and cultural frameworks.