NCJ Number
162999
Editor(s)
D Beall
Date Published
1995
Length
246 pages
Annotation
This is a series of analytical articles on the idea that news about the world does not necessarily reflect reality and that crime topics are as much constructed as reported.
Abstract
The book contains three articles that discuss Issues of Gender and Crime, including the idea that the media are male-centered and issues that affect women are not presented from a woman's point of view; the narrow media stereotyping as hookers of women who work as prostitutes, and the lack of attention to their poverty and abuse; and violence against women in relationships. A section on Distortion in the Media presents three articles dealing with specific ways crime is misrepresented in the news; ethnocentrism and how ethnic bias is reinforced; and how the interpretation of crime in the news comes to stand in for direct experience. Four articles in a section on The Law and the Media look at the relationship between the news media and the criminal justice system; sensationalism in the news; and news reporting that caters to a sense of personal tragedy instead of illuminating causes underlying events. Each chapter includes copies of the news articles discussed. Notes, figures, tables, bibliography