Media Representations of Crime
Media Representations of Crime:
In terms of entertainment, crime dominates dramatic and true-story programming in the media
Public fascination with crime influences their perceptions of the level of crime and victimisation
Fictional Representations of Crime:
Mandel (1984)- Recorded over 10 billion crime thrillers sold worldwide
Reiner (2007) Fictional views of crime over-represent murder and violent crime
Commodification of Crime:
Fenwick and Hyward (2000) suggest that the media uses crime as a way of selling goods to young people
Hayward and Young (2012) see the commodification of crime as romanticising crime as romanticising crime and making it culturally acceptable - through association with products
The Law of Opposites:
Crime is often misrepresented through the media according to Surette (1998)
‘Psychopathic strangers’ are rare in murder and sexual assault cases
Criminal convictions are seen far lower than seen on screen
Impacts of Media Representations:
Correlation between media usage and the fear of crime - high users are more likely to be afraid of being victims of crime
Felson (1998) media portray victims of crime as older and more middle-class — the age and class fallacy
Media and Ideology:
Media is a form of ideological state apparatus according to Althusser- sets agendas for criminalising behaviours of working class
Promotes the ideology of media owners - predominantly right-wing - which centres on crimes of the working-class and non-white ethnic groups
The invisibility of state crime, corporate crimes and green crimes in traditional media reporting
Interpretations of Media:
Greer and Reiner (2012) suggest that not all individuals interpret the media in the same way
Jeweks (2015) large number of factors influencing people’s perceptions of crime, including personal experience
Changing attitudes within fictional media- more realistic interpretations of crime, corrupt police and criminals getting away with crimes