The media adversely affects people’s perceptions about crime in different ways. For example it has been found that elderly women are more likely to feel susceptible to crime while young men are less likely. This suggests that the media have more of an impact on elderly women than young men. The statistics show that this should not be the case as young men are more likely to be victims of crime while older women are less likely. For example The Home Office Statistical Bulletin for crime in England and Wales 2007 found that “Young men age 16-24, were more at risk, of becoming a victim of violet crime, with 13.8% experiencing a violent crime of some sort in the year prior to the interview.” It also shows that “the risk of becoming a victim of violent crime was considerably lower for older people, which includes all types of violence, with the lowest 0.3% for women ages 75 or older.” These statistics give strong evidence that the media definitely has an influence over older women, as they are in more fear of victimisation than they necessarily should be. On the other hand it also shows that the media does not have a strong impact on young men’s perceptions as they should have more ‘fear of crime’, as they are more likely to be a victim.
Moral panic is closely linked to media and the fear of crime. Hale et al (2005:173) gives an excellent definition of moral panic. “Moral panic refers to the disproportionate and hostile social reaction to a group or condition perceived as a threat to societal values.” The term ‘Moral Panic’ originally came from Jock Young in an article from 1981 which talked about public fear on drug abuse. In the article Young describes “the moral panic over drug-taking results in the setting up of drug squads”, Newburn (2007:95) which lead to mounting arrests. A good example is the ‘Mod and Rockers’ story. This was the clash of two teenage gangs on a beach in Margate on May the 18th 1964. The story caused serious debate about the nature and extent of the incident, but it was known for sure that the media heightened people’s fears by exaggerating the situation.
Exaggerating, highlighting, over-representing stories of crime can have several advantages and disadvantages to the public. The advantages are that it can make people more aware of crime and therefore more careful in situations were crime is at high risk. This could actually decrease criminal activity because if the opportunity is not there the criminal is less likely to proceed, for example burglary. If people locked doors and windows in their house before they leave there is a less likely chance of burglary because the opportunity is not there for the criminal. Also it introduces people’s knowledge about new crimes for example internet crimes. On the other hand there are several disadvantages about fuelling people’s perceptions on crime. For example, the police sometimes give the public a false sense of security, when they exaggerate their success on crime prevention. The media can shift public perception by raising the concern on crime, unnecessarily. It can also cause ‘moral panic’ which can deeply distress the public.
A good example influencing public’s perception on crime is a news paper article from the Sun, Tuesday the 15th of October, 2007. The title states that ‘Knifing are No2 to Terror’. It tells readers that teen murders are the second biggest challenge to police after terrorism. There has been a recently high profile about knife culture in the media, but the British Crime Survey shows that violent crime is down by 11% to the previous year. There is obviously a concern about knife crime, especially in London, but is there not also an increasing gun culture? Relating the situation to ‘terrorism’ is blowing the whole incident out of proportion. If there was a serious case of knifings there would obviously be an increase in violent crime from the British Crime Statistics, which there isn’t. The fact that a senior police officer is quoted stating this and shows a photo of him makes the article more convincing. The editor has exaggerated his comment and shows us why people think that crime is rising as a whole in the country.
Another example of a crime story is from the guardian on Tuesday the 16th of October, 2007. The title states “Sex attacker preyed on women for four years after blunder” The story is about a serial sex attacker who has finally been jailed for life after a mistake with the DNA analysis. The attacker Mark Campbell could have been arrested four years ago but the police failed to send the DNA sample to be tested until 2006. The article gives well deserved bad publicity towards the police service. It shapes public perception as it highlights police mistakes and the horrific incidents in which these mistakes have caused. For example the rape of two fifteen year old girls, sexual assault of a sixteen year old girl and an attempted indecent assault of a twenty-three year old. The police have been known to be untrustworthiness and stories from the media about these incidents shapes publics perception even more in this direction. The article feeds further fear in the problems of crime prevention, more than the actual crime itself.
The difference between the two crime stories is that they are featured in two different newspapers. The Sun is a tabloid while the Guardian is a broad newsletter. The main difference is their reporting styles. A tabloid tends to overstate stories more, while a broad newsletter would less likely exaggerate the story by giving straightforward facts. The similarly between the two newspapers is that both of them usually set out to seek for bad press. There is nothing interesting about good crime news. Polly Toynbee wrote an article in the Guardian on Tuesday 25th of October 2007. The title states “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a bad crime story”. In this Polly identifies how the Guardian made an honourable exception last week, giving space to good crime news, with the headline, “All recorded crime is down by 7%, more serious violence offences down by 14%, lesser violence down by 12% and sex offences down by 9%.” However the Guardian also admitted that even they are prone to reporting the bad crime news as they also couldn’t resist the headline, “Crime down by 7% but drug offences show 14% increase.” The public mainly read newspapers for scandal and sensationalism, such as interesting crime stories. As Maguire, Morgan and Reiner (2007:315) states, “News and fiction stories about crime are prominent in all media. While there is evidence of increasing attention to crime in some parts of the media, overall this fascination has been constant throughout media history.”
News editors lead the gate-keeping role, they are known for choosing stories that would grab the reader’s attention. As found in Newburn (2007:85), “a classic study by Chibnall 1997, eight ‘professional imperatives’ were identified as implicit guides to the construction of news stories.” They were immediacy, dramatisation, personalisation, simplification, titillation, conventionalism, structured access and novelty. The media cannot cover every aspect of crime this is why there is a process of selection.
Even politicians understand the affect the media has on society’s views. They strongly understand that without the backing of the media it would be virtually impossible for a political party to win a general election. The Sun in the 1992 election where so convinced of its assistance to the conservative land-slide that they stated the front page headline, “IT WAS SUN WOT WON IT”, two days after the election. From the analysis above it can be seen that the media has had an effect on people’s perceptions on crime. Of course, people are affected by this in different ways, for example it was found that older women are more affected by the media than younger men. However it is seen that the media affect people’s views one way or the other. The media therefore can shift people’s views in the direction it chooses, even if it is inaccurate. Evidence of this is given from incidents in the past for example ‘the Mods and Rockers story’ which caused ‘moral panic’. Newspapers are filled with crime stories that reflect journalist’s opinions. They are just people’s opinions. But because these opinions are written for the public to read, they have a greater impact on their views. Most of the public believe what is written in a newspaper. They do not go and check if the article is bias or incorrect, they usually trust what is written.
Bibliography
Hale, C., Hayward, K., Wahidin, A. and Wincup, E. (2005 eds.) Criminolgy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Maguire, M., Morgan, R. and Reiner, R. (2007 eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 4th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Newburn, T (2007) Criminolgy, Collumpton: Willan.
Walklate. (2005), Criminology the basics, Oxon: Routledge.
Further reading:
http://www.answers.com/topic/the-sun-newspaper?cat=technology
Nicholas, S., Kershaw, C. and Walker, A. (2007) Crime in England and Wales 2006/2007, London: Home Office Statistical Bulletin.
The Guardian Tuesday October 16th 2007.
The Guardian Tuesday October 23rd 2007.
The Sun Tuesday October 15th 2007.