Within fear of crime (FOC) literature there is a presupposition that a direct causal relationship exists between mass media consumption and the perceived FOC levels reported by individuals. Directly linking print media, namely newspapers and FOC in a causal relationship is complex and at times impractical. A prolific amount of study conducted by criminologists, over the last four decades suggests the mass media report only on those issues that are deemed newsworthy, therefore devoting a great deal of the news space to the criminal justice system and in particular sensational violent crimes such as murder, rape and physical assaults (Jewkes, 2004; Cohen, 1972, p. 17; Lee, 2007, p.2; Greer, 2009, p. 202; Chibnall, 1977; Mawby, 2010; Marsh & Melville, 2009, p. 1). FOC can be defined as a “concept used to explain a range of psychological and/or social reactions to the perceived or symbolic threat of crime” (Lee, 2007, p.2). As mass media is forever expanding and as the content is available to consumers almost immediately, the distinction between newsworthiness and factual is at times blurred (Marsh & Melville, 2009, p. 1).
(Begin video at 5.32 - 8.54) - Media Watch - The Ghost Road to Responsible Reporting
Media Watch is a program developed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), that analyses the “manipulation and misrepresentations” portrayed by any given news source, where it be, print or visual, as an attempt to display and dissect the factual content behind the story, whilst humorously disaccrediting the original source.
The Daily Telegraph released an article dated August 2, 2010, ‘Sydney erupts with 3 shootings in 6 hours’ which was designed to create a sense of fear towards crime as a ‘man was gunned down in broad daylight’ and ‘drive-by style shooting’ whilst creating a novel, sensationalised and simplified news report for the consumers (Chibnall, 1977, as cited in Greer, 2009, p. 205; Mawby, 2010). The attempt of this report was to achieve heightened fears among those residents of “Roberts Park as it has a notorious reputation in the area as yesterday's shooting was the third time someone has been shot there in less than three weeks”.
"With violent crime on the rise it's frightening to realise that they (Police) may not attend when you call” (Adelaide Now, 14 Sept 2010, ‘Youth arrested over elderly women’s death’). This claim made by Adelaide Now is entirely misleading, which in turn significantly impacts the public view of the generation being investigated, namely youths.
As previously mentioned, due to the mass media overstating the seriousness and the perceived risk of victimisation, Gerbner believed that heavy consumption of these misrepresentations cultivate a higher level of FOC. Furthermore, frequent viewers of television are more likely to believe that they might become crime victims – particularly of violence – than light television viewers (Greer, 2009, p. 420). Interestingly, the low-market tabloid readers which reported the most crime also recorded the highest levels of fear.
Similarly, Lee concurred that print media should not be ignored as a “site of power”, as there is a strong intersection between what and how the media reports in regard to crime (2007, p. 192). He made further implications that those who consume the sensationalised crime stories, their FOC levels are dependent on their lived experiences and cultural context rather than specifically the consumption of the media (p. 193), and that rather than producing FOC within an individual it increases the concern for politicians and public policy agencies. As FOC has now come to be regarded as a major social problem in and of itself.
Greer’s argument that fearful citizens tend to be depoliticised and therefore are more dependent on established authority ties in with McRobbie and Thornton’s hypothesis that where once moral panics were the “unintended outcomes of journalistic practice”, they are now a form of rhetoric utilised by politicians to make a variety of matters newsworthy and to make citizens more dependent on the government bodies (Greer, 2009, p. 2; McRobbie and Thornton 1995, p. 560). The more fearful people are of crime the easier is it to create public policy within the government surrounding these issues. For example, at the height of the previous election, parties were seen promising to increase police numbers, by “up to sixteen-hundred extra uniformed police officers” (Austin, The Age, April 6 2010). This is seen by the public as taking preventative methods in reducing the amount of crime (Lee, 2007, p. 187), but whether it was just a ploy to receive the voters’ choice is highly debated.
References
Austin, P., 2010, ‘Coalition election focus on crime and safety’, The Age, 6 April,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2010, ‘Media watch’. viewed 22 September 2010,
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch >
Chibnall, S. 1977. Law and order: An analysis of crime reporting in the British press. Cambridge University Press, London.
Greer, C. 2009. Crime and Media: A Reader. Routledge, London.
Jewkes, Y. 2004. Media and crime. Sage Publications, London.
Lee, M. 2007. Inventing fear of crime: Criminology and the politics of anxiety. Willan Publishing, Portland Oregon.
Marsh, I. and Melville, G., 2008. Crime, justice and the media. Routledge, Milton Park and New York
Mawby, R. 2010, ‘Police corporate communications, crime reporting and the shaping of policing news’, Policing and Society, 20 (1): 124-139.
McRobbie, A., and Thornton, S. (1995), ‘Rethinking moral panic for multi-mediated social worlds’, British Journal of Sociology, 46 (4): 559-574.
‘Sydney erupts with 3 shootings in 6 hours’, The Daily Telegraph, 2 August, 2010,
‘Youth arrested over elderly woman's death’, Adelaide Now, 14 September, 2010,
I thought this was a rather interesting topic as fear of crime has become such a powerful tool within media organisations. I like the way you pointed out the fact that the Daily Telegraph in many cases is not just trying to report on an issue, its trying to scare the readers, clearly shown by the headline of that article.
ReplyDeleteI think the real issue with fear of crime, is how to stop it. Countless crime shows with international or regionalised settings make it seem like there is a murderer, rapist, spy, terrorist or thief around every corner. The importance of this issue is even portrayed by the fact that the Australian Institute of Criminology has a specific article on its website from P. Grabosky stating the risk of combating a fear of crime. He thinks that trying to create programs to stop a fear of crime in the community might just heighten people's fears.
Overall though very interesting topic though, should be interesting to see how these issues are handled.