Crime And Media Analysis

This essay discusses how the media is one of the core contributors in influencing people perception of crime. It is clear that the media represents crime in a number of different ways, some positive and some negative. Although some of the representations may be true it is important to remember not all of them are. As Berger (1963 cited in Carrabine et al. 2014) says “the first wisdom a sociology is this: things are not what they see”. From this it highlights that crime is not shape to be measured, but rather it should be challenged and questioned when it presents itself in the media. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to look at the crime content in the media and consider with use of examples the extent to which the media has in shaping

For example TV shows such as police interceptors and NCIS picks up on serious and violent offences ultimately changing the viewer’s perception on crime. A study by Stevens (2009) supports this as he mentions ‘The CSI Effect’ and how television shows will produce their own version of reality which acts as a substantial tool to change the world’s expectations about crime. On the other hand, researchers such as Sacco (1982) challenges the idea implying that the effects of media exposure on fear of crime are less significant. To expand, rather than the viewer being a passive audience who just agrees with the text, they are more actively involved in trying to challenge the media coverage which will influence what crime means for

(McLaughlin 2013, p.175). The fear of crime can escalate by certain elements such as your age, gender and most importantly direct experience. As stated by Liska and Baccaglini (1990) they found that the elderly and women had a higher level of media influence who are typical ‘ideal victims’, they feel most fearful despite being the least likely to become a victim of crime. Christie (1986: 18) describes the ‘ideal victim’ as ‘”a person or category of individuals, who, when hit by crime, most readily are given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim”. This is significant because it emphasize how much the media plays on showing these type of victims which allows the public to assume that members of these groups have a higher chance of being victims of crime. To expand on this Sacco (1995, p.152) implies the media crime stories are “stripped” providing little knowledge about the background of the victim and where exactly it took place. As a consequence, the viewer will automatically develop a higher sense of fear about crime, believing that this is happening outside where they live, despite if the neighborhood they are living in has the lowest crime