NCJ Number
139392
Journal
Media Studies Journal Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1992), 183-194
Date Published
1992
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The anticommunist revolution in the former Soviet Union has resulted in a dramatic increase in crime reporting; borrowing from the experiences of the Western media, crime reporting in Russia is becoming a distinct field of journalism.
Abstract
Over the past 100 years, Russian crime reporting has combined three approaches. The analytical approach emphasizes the socioeconomic and psychological roots of crime, while the descriptive component provides basic facts and figures about crime, and the sensational aspect focuses on high-profile crimes which are usually politically motivated. The author terms these approaches Russian, European, and American, respectively. Under communism, the coverage of crime changed radically as Soviet leaders banned any publication of crime statistics, and the American-style sensational reporting was restricted to political offenders. However, the dawn of glasnost gradually lifted the censorship on crime reporting. Crime in the Soviet Union is higher than in most Western countries, and it leads in several crime categories. While both newspaper and television reporting have largely resorted back to the traditional, European style of crime reporting, there has been a rapid expansion of the sensational style of reporting.