NCJ Number
216573
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice Volume: 48 Issue: 6 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 867-885
Date Published
October 2006
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article assesses the state of current research on the association between crime and the media.
Abstract
The author argues that key problems with previous research on crime and the media are related to assuming the effects of the media's reporting on and portrayals of crime or in attributing a uniform pattern in how media shape and are shaped by social relations and institutions. The author's review of various bodies of research on crime in the media notes the limits of research on the effects of media's coverage and portrayals of crime. He argues that research on the effects of media crime coverage has been most effective when it has focused on direct links between specific media crime coverage and subsequent political and institutional actions. He suggests that such research might be supplemented with more interpretive research on the meaning of crime stories for audiences with particular characteristics. Some areas suggested for further research are the interplay between viewing early evening news reports on local crimes and subsequent primetime viewing of fictional crime dramas. Attention should be given to the repetitive news coverage of specific types of crime and the types of crimes selected for fictional dramatization in television series. 70 references