If there was less violence in the media, there would be less violence on the streets. Discuss.

by babyshaqs (student)

Media, Crime and Criminal Justice

The mass media plays a vital part in providing information to the general public. There are two different types of media, the print and the electronic. Though these two are very similar, they mainly differ in the subject that they cover and the way the information is presented. Print media is based on factual information whereas the electronic media presents visual aids. The debate of media and the influence of crime has been around since the time of the beginning of media (Greer 2010). The main focus of research on crime and media are ‘the effects of media violence on behaviour’, ‘impact of media images and the fear of crime’ and ‘the role of the media in the production of moral panic’ (Greer 2010). This Essay will look in to the debate of media and violence, and how if we are less exposed to criminal behaviour the less chances are for crime to be committed, it will discuss the ‘worrying influence’ of the ‘media effects studies’, it will then discuss the cultivation thesis and what kind of people may be more likely exposed to crime. The essay will also focus on what theories and experiments have been carried out to show the impact of media and violence, how imitation can be reinforced by being exposed to violent behaviours. Finally it will move its focus on to research and look at the differences between bad research to good and how effects research can be improved.

David Gauntlett(1995) looked at the worrying influence of ‘media effects’, instead of focusing on how media effects individuals to commit a criminal act, like Banduras’ theory, Gauntlett focused on what motivates and causes violent behaviour, he looked at the background that individuals came from and what their goals were (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010). Gauntlett believed to understand violent behaviour it is necessary to understand violent people (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010). In 1994, Hagell and Newburn conducted a study in which there were seventy eight teenage offenders who had some sort of a violent history, and compared them with a group of over five hundred non offending people of the same age (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010) they found that the seventy eight offenders, who were not in prison at the time, were less involved with watching the TV or playing any video games, most of the offenders did not identify any of the characters from television (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010). This study shows that TV is not always the cause for violent behaviour; the offenders were not interested in the programmes and were not interested in the television to be able to answer the question asked, but yet they had committed a criminal offence.

It can be argued that the media effects research is invalid to a point, this is because many studies have been conducted on children, who are young and have no voice and are unable to show their understanding or have free will, the children’s responses may be pre set, for example because the child understanding is limited, they will only be able to give the response that is expected or not give any response at all (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010) The media effects research is good news for conservative and the right wing moralists’ (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010), the reason for this is because the conservatives tend to ‘hype’ what the media show, by showing more crime on TV and through newspapers, people are being exposed more to this behaviour and less to the reason of what may have caused it in the first place. Gauntlett believes that the ‘effects model inadequately defines its own objects of study’ (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010).

Violence is a broad term, it could be verbal or physical, the level of violence may be higher because of the ‘use of swear words’ (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010) therefore the outcome of the effects model may vary because of this reason. Experiments that have been carried out in laboratories and field experiments are limited to certain numbers and groups of people, the results and outcome may vary significantly, this is due to the effects model being based on artificial studies. What happens in laboratories is controlled, for example in the Bandura experiment, the children were controlled ...

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Researchers base the conception of violence and media mainly from TV programmes and films, this is therefore not a solid ground to be studying or experimenting from, simply because many programmes that are broadcasted are ‘fictional’, the problem with this is that does not focus on ‘factual’ violence, which is a lot more serious, society is less likely to be influenced by this, simply because they are able to distinguish between ‘real’ and ‘fictional’ violence and are able to determine what is acceptable (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010). Another major problem with research of media and crime is that the conductor focuses on how the society will be influenced, they do not take in to account that they may also have been influenced by the media. Because a lot of research is conducted on small children, the researcher is automatically seeing themselves as a mature adult. Research that is carried out on the adult population also consists of the same issue, in a sense where the adult see themselves as mature and do not think that they may have been influenced in any way (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010).

Gauntlett argues that the ‘effect model’ produces a ‘ singular clear cut’ message and the ‘proponents of the media effects model are in position to identify just what the message is’ (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010), this means that there could be two different ways of showing a violent act but the message is still the same , for example seeing a gang related film or watching a cartoon such as ‘Tom and Jerry’ are two very different ways of showing violence but the message is the same. The audiences of these scenes will have a different reaction on the behaviour because ‘tom and jerry’ are cartoons therefore it will be seen as more funny where as the gang film would be seen as deviant. Evidence suggests that people bring their own perceptions and views on the media and how we portray it varies from individual to individual, the effect model can only work on people who see the media as having ‘a basic propaganda message’ (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010). According to Gauntlett, there is not enough evidence to prove that the media does have an effect on individual behaviour and cause them to imitate what they see. Watching something violent does not cause a person to do the same thing, if this was the case then the majority of population would be deviant, mainstream society is pretty much exposed to the media in everyday life, watching TV, newspapers, radio and even mobile phones, if the media influenced behaviour then the result of this would be clearly seen in society. Gauntlett believes that the ‘effects model’ is based on a mixture of statements and the considerable problems lie in the ‘failure’ of the ‘media effects’ theorists who base their research on any theory (Gauntlett 2001, Cited in Greer 2010).

Gerbner and Gross (1976) argue that television is the main source to understanding the world around us; this is explained in their cultivation theory. According to Gerbner and Gross, the main purpose of media is to ‘reinforce’ and not face up to those in power (Gerbner and Gross 1976, Cited in Greer 2010). Overtime the influence of media has been increasing and has created a particular view of the world (Gerbner and Gross 1976, Cited in Greer 2010). From all the types of media, Television has become the main source of storytelling in society (Gerbner and Gross 1976, Cited in Greer 2010). According to Gerbners cultivation theory, individuals who view TV for more than four to five hours a day are regarded as as ‘heavy television viewers’ and individuals who watch less than four hours of TV are categorised as ‘light viewers’ therefore are less likely to be exposed to violent behaviour’, heavy viewers’ of television are more exposed to violence and therefore are affected by the ‘Mean World Syndrome’, a thought of the world being a worse place than it actually is (Gerbner and Gross 1976, Cited in Greer 2010).

The cultivation theory has a similar approach to the ‘media affects study’, meaning that it focuses on the consequences of exposure. A study carried out by Hughes, explains the effect of the cultivation thesis. His work showed that people feared of walking home at late at night, this is simply because of the view that darkness is a time for criminal behaviour (Hughes 1980). It can be argued that many TV programmes show criminal behaviour being committed at night, therefore this has created fear in the mind, causing the individual to relate crime and night together. It can be argued that the media uses this reason as a way to get in to the societies mind and increase the fear people may have about crime (Jewkes 2011)

There has been evidence in the past that the media can have a negative impact on behaviour in certain areas, such as creating prejudice and fear within society (Livingstone and Hargrave 2006). Lord Winston (2004) produced an article which shows the concerns of the media and its representation on ‘crime and deviance’, according to this article, the media has an impact on behaviour and can cause violence to occur (Reiner 2007). Criminologist Robert Reiner argues a criminal act can only be classed by this term if the act is labelled as such, for example being categorised as illegal by the law. According to Reiner, a criminal act will only be carried out if the behaviour has been stimulated and is ‘labelled’ (Reiner 2007). This can be seen in Robert Merton’s Labelling Theory where different cultures and lifestyles are labelled which can have an effect and cause offensive behaviour (Rock 2007). Reiner argues that the media opens opportunities for offenses to be carried out, for example, the media shows advancement in technological products and by making this visible, and temptation arises within individuals therefore causing them to carry out an act to be able to access the means (Reiner 2007). It can also be argued that the media increases awareness of different ‘criminal techniques’ through things such as, comics and programmes like ‘the real hustle’, where the public is shown how people can be conned, but at the same time exposing tricks that people may be unoriginally aware of (Reiner 2007)

A famous case in February 12th 1993, where a two year old child, James Bulger, was kidnapped and murdered by two ten year old boys, during the trial it was presented that the possible cause of this murderous act was down to a game called ‘Childs Play 3’ which was played by the boys before they had murdered James (Greer 2011, Outline and Media Effects). It can be argued that the due to the boys being exposed to a violent game they imitated the behaviour. Behaviourist psychologist, Albert Bandura, argued people imitate aggression through the behaviour that they observe, he called this the ‘social learning theory’ (Woods 1995).

According to Bandura, people do not inherit violent tendencies, but they learn them after three principles (Woods 1995). Bandura believed that individuals learn aggressive behaviour by imitating and observing others, this can be through their environment, the media or by personally observing themselves (Woods 1995) therefore media may not be the only cause for violent behaviour. Bandura argued that aggression produces reinforcements. These reinforcements can turn in to a cut down of tension, achievement of financial rewards or receiving praise from others and building of the self esteem (Woods 1995). Prejudice and discrimination is connected with negative feelings and behaviour, the media can show positive images regarding these behaviours which would therefore influence individuals (Woods 1995). Music is also a form of media influence, even though there has been little research on the effect that music can have on society and behaviour there has been evidence which states that the message which is received from the artists can have a negative effect on society (Livingstone and Hargrave 2006). A case on December 31st 2002, where four people were shot in a ‘drive by style shooting’ two of these four were killed, this type of behaviour tends to be imitated by watching rap artist videos, in which killing and criminal behaviour is seen as a norm (Greer 2011, Outline and Media Effects). It can be argued that aggression through visual media may have more of an effect on the way person may show aggression in future (Bandura et al 1963, Cited in Greer 2010).

Martin Barker and Julian Petley believe that research conducted can be ‘bad’ but it’s more important to focus on why the particular research is bad and how to make it in to a good piece of research. They argue that keeping in track with certain theories and methods, research can be a good one (Barker and Petley 2001, Cited in Greer 2010) According to Barker and Petley, if a researcher focuses on violence and media by studying a large number of subjects with a quantitative structure, the likelihood that the research will be hopeless is high, they believe that by focusing on qualitative research, such as the work of Gauntlett, there is a higher chance to investigate different areas and forms of media violence (Barker and Petley 2001, Cited in Greer 2010). In the work of Schlesinger et al, it can be seen that it is not being exposed to violence that results in an imitated behaviour but more of the ’feelings’ that are created when being exposed to this, so actual or possible victims of crime (Barker and Petley 2001, Cited in Greer 2010). He came to this conclusion from his research on ‘women viewing violence’, this study concentrated on the reaction of women who watched four different types programmes, this included, BBC Crime Watch UK, a popular soap, Eastenders, drama, Closing Ranks and lastly a film called, The Accused. The women came from different ages, cultural backgrounds and class (Barker and Petley 2001, Cited in Greer 2010).

It can be argued that the more variety of people in a research the better the research will be. If there is more concentration on a particular group of people then the outcome of the research will be weak. In conclusion, the connection between media and crime has been based on the ‘media effects research’ where experiments have been conducted mainly on the younger audience; if experiments are conducted on a broader scale by having a wider audience from different backgrounds, age and class, we are able to have a better understanding and a result in then connection between Media and Crime on society as a whole, we are exposed to criminal behaviour daily, through the media and the real world, it cannot be stated that the less violence in media then the less it would be on the streets, this issue has been around for many years and in time only better research would be able to help in understanding this debate.

Bibliography

Books

Bandura, A. Ross, D. And Ross, J. (1963) ‘Imitation of Film Mediated Aggressive Models’, in C. Greer (ed.) (2010) Crime and Media: A Reader, London: Routledge

Barker, M. and Petley, J. (2001) ‘From Bad Media Violence Research to Good: A Guide for the Perplexed’, in C. Greer (ed.) (2010) Crime and Media: A Reader, London: Routledge

Gauntlett, D. (2001) ‘The Worrying Influence of ‘Media Effects’ Studies’, in C. Greer (ed.) (2010) Crime and Media: A Reader, London: Routledge

Jewkes, Y. (2010) Media and Crime, second edition, London, Sage.

Reiner, R. (2007) ‘Media made criminality’ in M. Maguire, R. Morgan and R. Reiner (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Criminology (4th edn.), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Woods, B. (1995) ‘Basics in Psychology’, London, British Library

E-Books

Livingstone, S., and Millwood Hargrave, A. (2006) Harmful to children? Drawing conclusions from empirical research on media effects. In U. Carlsson (Ed.), Regulation, Awareness, Empowerment: Young People and HarmfulMedia Content in the Digital Age (21-48). Goteborg: Nordicom/Unesco.

(Accessed 24.03.2011)