Crime and the Media(plus Qualitative Methodology)

Understanding Criminology

Wednesday 19 April 2023

Lecture Outline

• Qualitative Principles in Research

• Media and Crime Connections

• The Media Representation of Crime

• Explaining the Media representation of crime

Qualitative Priorities• Depth understandings

– Aim is understand the experiences of small numbers of cases (poss. one)

• Subjective– feelings, emotions, perceptions etc.

• Varied, un-standardised data– text, images, thoughts, talk, observations

Observational Research

• In a general sense, all research is observation (even questionnaires)

• In a more specific sense, ethnographic observation prioritises collection of data from naturalistic settings e.g. unstructured interviews as conversations

• The researcher embeds themselves in a social setting to record events, conversations, experiences and their own feelings and understandings about a setting

Linguistic Analysis

• Content Analysis: a quantitative technique; recording the number of occurrences of particularly words, phrases, and the context in which they are used

• Discourse Analysis: a qualitative technique, prioritising naturalistic talk, and the context in which is is produced

Structured v Unstructured Data Collection

• Quantitative Approach: – standardised data; large number of cases; aim:

reliable comparison

• Qualitative Approach– Rich description of individuals and settings;

smaller number of cases

Objectivity v. Subjectivity

• Quantitative - Objectivity– Natural Science model– Distance between researcher and researched– Consistency

• Qualitative – Subjectivity– Interpretivism– Relationships between Researcher and

Researched paramount

Media and Crime Connections: Media “Effects” “Hypodermic Syringe” Model: direct, unmediated effects

of media coverage in triggering deviant behaviour, or shaping our reactions to crime

– Mass media increasingly important especially amongst the alienated, uneducated, vulnerable “masses”

– moral anxiety about the encouragement of deviant behaviour: the media is seen in opposition to mainstream moral values

– high culture – mass media undermines the civilizing effects of high culture: right-wing class based analysis, distinguishing different aspects of culture

– mass manipulation – the media represents a tool of the ruling class

Criticisms: Reductionist and determinist

Media and Crime Connections: Pluralistic Model

• Deregulation of media has lessened the State control of the media

• Greater variety of media sources provide a greater opportunity for a variety of definers and counter-definers to have access to media outlets

• Coherent, unitary media elite is much more difficult to identify

• Example http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/

Where is the Media in Criminological Theory?• Labelling theory:

– The establishment of stereotypes and social constructions of criminality in the media is vital in how people interpret the world. The media acts to establish and reinforce labels. (Becker)

• Deviancy Amplification / Moral Panics– Deviant group identity is reinforced by alienation. In

larger societies, deviants are more reliant on mass media. Policing priorities affected by portrayal of social problems. (Leslie T. Wilkins / Jock Young)

• Strain Theory– The media, and in particular advertising, is central to the

establishment of people’s goals: economic goals (Merton); conspicuous consumption (Burney); hedonism (Katz)

Crime Related Media Content

• Growing in media coverage

• Diverse types of media content– News– Fiction– “Reality” TV

Amount of Crime in the Press• Coverage of crime in the press is growing?

– Roshier (1973) • an average of 4% 1938-1967• Higher in tabloid newspapers

– Ditton (1981)• 6.5% of space

– Williams and Dickinson (1989)• 12.7% of “event oriented” news reports• 5.1% in Guardian / 30.4% in the Sun

• Different methodologies are used: difficult to deduce that there has been an increase in coverage

Reiner and Sutherland 1997• Longitudinal analysis of film, television and press

coverage of crime from 1945 -1991• Film: no significant change over time

– 20% crime films: 45-50% containing central crime concerns

• The Press

• TV– Percentage of top ten programmes which were crime

programmes increased from 8% (1945-51) to 12%(1985-91)

Crime Narratives (Reiner et al 1997)

• Murder remains the most common crime portrayed in media

• Property crime has plummeted

• Violent, sexual and drug-related offences have increased

• Critical and negative images of police are highest 1964-1979

• Outcomes for Offenders

Content of Press Crime Coverage

• Focus is on the difference between the media portrayal of crime and criminals, and the picture from surveys and recorded statistics

• Generally, the media are seen as exaggerating the risks associated with crime

• Some commentators see this as part of an attempt to increase support for harsher CJ Responses

Evidence: Types of Crime

• Crimes of violence are disproportionately covered: BCS 6% of all crime is violent

• Murder: accounts for 1/3rd of all reports (Reiner 2000) – also found burglary was receiving less coverage

• Williams and Dickinson (1989): 64.5% of newspaper crime stories are violent

• Cumberbatch (1995): Fatal crime accounted for 38-53% of crime stories

Offenders

• The national media tend to focus on older and higher-status offenders than those processed by the CJS

• Local newspapers: tend to focus on lower-status and ethnic-minority offenders

• The vast majority of news stories reflect offenders as a male

Victims

• Increasingly central to news stories about crime– Exaggerate the risks for

• Higher status• Women• Children and the elderly

– The poor, young and black victims are not given much prominence as victims

The Police

• The Police recognise the power of the media, and have at times utilised this power

• “An enduring, if not ecstatically happy, marriage” between the police and the media (Sir Robert Mark, 1971)

• The media is generally supportive of the police• Police corruption seen as “one bad apple”• The Police see themselves as the subject of criticism

– “Without doubt the most abused, the most unfairly criticised ad the most silent minority in this country” Sir Robert Mark (1974)

Explanations for Media coverage

• Structural constraints on media– Focus on court-based stories emphasises the

success of the police– Police provide most information to the media– “News” is inherently event-dependent: little

time is allowed for deeper analysis (trends, social causes etc.)

– TV crews located behind police lines

Explanations for Media coverage

• Journalists’ Professional Ideology (Chibnall)

Immediacy Titillation

Dramatisation Conventionalism

Personalisation Structured Access

Simplification Novelty

Laissez-Faire Model

• The media is driven by demand economics

• Media focus on sensationalist, prurient, and moralistic stories reflects the desires of the general public

• Ignores other influences (e.g. government)

Explanations for Media coverage

Political Ideology• The press is predominantly conservative • The media aim to strike a ‘middle ground’

between mainstream political perspectives i.e. a relativistic stance

• Hegemony: The media operates to provide consent and support for the State’s actions e.g. Stuart Hall et al. “Policing the Crisis”