NCJ Number
78948
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (July 1981) Pages: 319-350
Date Published
1981
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This article reviews research on the incidence and contents of news and entertainment presentations in crime and criminal justice and on the effects of the media upon their audiences. Possible directions for future research are addressed.
Abstract
Numerous studies are cited. One conducted by Graber indicates that in 1976 crime and justice accounted for 22 to 28 percent of the coverage in the three newspapers studied, 20 percent for local television news, and 12 to 13 percent for network news. The overrepresentation of violent and street crimes in the news media is well documented, and comparisons between cities tend to show that different levels of crime are not reflected in different amounts of crime news. The proportions of prime time devoted to television network shows featuring crime and law enforcement averaged between one-fourth and one-third from 1958 to 1977. Research investigating the effects of television violence on aggressive behavior and on the public's image of crime generally indicates that the depictions of crime and violence in the media differ from reality and that media portrayals appear to affect audience behavior. Future research should analyze the content of media presentations from a criminologist's viewpoint, should differentiate between reports of local and nonlocal crime, and should reexplore the effect of movies on delinquency. Footnotes and 100 references are included.