How is crime portrayed in the media

One of the many contributing factors that determine whether or not a case receives media attention is the newsworthiness of its victims. Research shows that with high levels of television news consumption and newspapers readership, increased fear of victimization and crime was present. Even more, local news was found to have a more significant impact on the fear of crime.

At the same time, TV networks invested in crime shows. A study of audiences for the TV show Cops revealed that viewers regarded the show as more realistic than other types of policing shows. Other studies show that viewers see reality shows as providing information, rather than entertainment. Audiences interpret crime-based reality programming as similar to the news. Within the criminal justice system, they are important not only because of the public fascination with crime and punishment, but also because the everyday workings of the criminal justice system often remain outside of the direct experience or sight of most people.

This can have an impact on our notions of crime and the criminal justice system. Because popular culture is saturated with images of crime and punishment, the public relies to a greater extent on media representation to form their image of imprisonment, policing, and the criminal justice system more broadly.

The popular podcast Serial presented in its first season an investigative journey into a local murder case from Baltimore County, Maryland in Some argue that the children merely learnt how to play with the doll, and they were aware that it was a harmless activity. There was no reason to assume they would behave in similar ways outside the laboratory and with anything other than a doll. While the media might not cause crime, interactionists like Stan Cohen argue that it amplifies it through the process of labelling and creating folk devils and moral panics.

Deviancy amplification as a process contributing to some criminality seems very convincing. Unquestionably, people in Birmingham or Manchester would not have rioted on those particular nights in were it not for the media coverage of events in London. The same could be said of "creepy clowns" in Whatever reason the original creepy clowns might have had for dressing and behaving as they did, most only joined in because they had seen reports of previous incidents in the media.

In the example of the riots, the vast majority of the rioters processed by the criminal justice system had previous convictions. In other words, while the media might have given them the idea to loot or vandalise on that evening, it did not make them deviant: they were already criminals.

Company Reg no: VAT reg no Main menu. Subjects Shop Courses Live Jobs board. Kania began examining prime-time TV and print media descriptions of criminal justice topics in the mids. The researchers concluded that the media portrayals of the justice system had changed over the century They also drew the conclusion that the mass media serves as gatekeepers for coverage on the corrections process through the news as well as prime-time TV shows, which blur the line of fiction and reality.