Information Technologies Explosion - Case Study Example

Crime and Media Information technologies explosion has inevitably led to the proliferation of information in society today, with the implication that there is a much-limited social control than before, and since the media is known to be a core player in the social production of news, it is often manipulated for both political and economic purposes. Media and crime have long been associated for the same political and economic reasons, which explain the rising crime rate equation to the limited social control; the widespread occurrence and signification of crime, as well as its wider social implications and the subsequent loss of social control are all engineered to create moral panics in society. Moral panics are social phenomenon that entails the classic media these such as victims and heroes; in this respect, moral panics make for fertile news grounds, particularly for the media products that set out to achieve such feelings. To some considerable extent, it is no longer deniable that many people are highly fascinated with crime (Jewkes 2004, p.8), which explains the pervasion of crime in media sources. Stakeholders in the industry know that moral panic sells television prime time and newspapers thus, a vast majority of the current affairs programs and tabloid press in the country play of fears of the public more now more than before. For instance, over the last year, there have been several high profile celebrities charged and/or convicted of child sexual abuse; using examples, this paper will discuss how the media have reported these cases. There is an unprecedented growth and expansion of the media outlets in the country today, and there is no doubt that the proliferation of media outlets will continue to increase with the increasing demand for news, particularly the tabloid style journalism, which provokes reporters to have a high nose for news sources, often the victims of crimes. Crime has been the most persistent staple of news reporting for as long as there have been newspapers but the media does cover crime more today than in the past, and there is a particular shift in the crime coverage by media towards the more serious and violent crimes in society. The danger or risk of such a pervasion of news media with crime stories is that it increases the likelihood that someone else might want to venture out there to commit the same crime (Jewkes 2004, p.12). Generally, there is a fundamental mismatch between the underlying crime rates and the media reporting since serious crime is often always over reported in the press; for instance, celebrities charged and/or convicted of child sexual abuse have featured prominently in news media over the year. In that case, news and editorial values today tend to represent crime as ever-present and widespread, stimulating fear and anxiety and making it more likely that someone else might commit a crime since it is portrayed as a cultural norm; except crime-involving celebrities, crime that is more serious is usually ignored. In the wake of 1980s, discourse about child sex abuse took a centre stage in the US as well as UK media, while popular culture frequently represented child sex abuse as a prominent subject throughout the 1990s. There were numerous claims of sexual abuse of children in the period between 1984 and 1994, with daily news throughout the 1990s underscoring the rising fears regarding alleged abduction by Pedophiles and the risk of children being abused by predatory Pedophiles through the Internet. Apart from child sexual abuse increasingly becoming a core topic for public discussion, this issue also became a common theme in popular culture especially films, which explored it in fiction and docudrama. A vast majority of these films imitated some of the principle myths surrounding child sexual abuse and pedophilia, and as a result, mainstream feature films largely depicted men and women abusing children, as well as, children abusing other children. Child sexual offences have indeed hit a new record high in the recent decade, with the official statistics indicate that police recorded over 23,000 sex offences against children under the age of eighteen years in England and Wales between April 2012 and March 2013 only (NSPCC 2013). Child Line councillors also report having dealt with over 1.4 million contacts from children concerning a number of issues including sexual abuse and violence, while the sex offenders register records that there are nearly 29, 837 sexual offenders. Nearly 190,000 UK children suffer contact sexual abuse by non-related adults before they are aged eighteen years while about 10,000 new child victims of contact sexual abuse are reported in the UK each year (NSPCC 2013).. Celebrities in the UK have been highly involved in child sexual abuse scandals in the recent past, raising concerns regarding the safety of children particularly in the information and technology age, where exposure over the internet further exacerbates their vulnerability to preying child abusers and Pedophiles alike. High reporting on celebrity child sexual abuse scandals in media has also helped to instigate and propagate the moral panic beyond imaginable levels; many celebrities, especially pop and rock musicians enjoy a high level of public attention and attract an ardent fan base of young people due to their glamorous culture of pop music and lifestyles. Many young fans cannot resist the allure of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll lifestyles modelled by their celebrity pop icons that they follow them to every concert, and this makes them highly vulnerable to abuse by the Pedophiles who often see their fame and celebrity status as a means to young victims who they can exploit. Ian Watkins, a singer of the Welsh rock band known as Lostprophets, is a just one among the many UK British celebrities who have abused children in the recent past, and whose alleged child sexual abuse scandals have infiltrated and persisted in the mainstream British media in the present century (Steven, 2013). The news sources carried headlines of the sudden revelation of the singer’s child sexual abuse claims and pictures of the artist, apart from covering the entire court proceedings during his trial and subsequent sentencing for over 35 years in prison. As a determined and committed Pedophile, the singer admitted to a number of children sexual offences such as sexual assault and attempt to rape a baby by colluding with its mother, who was his ardent fan. The singer pleaded guilty to contriving to rape a child, three counts of child sex-assault charges, seven charges of taking, making and possessing indecent images of children and one charge of possessing an extremely pornographic image of a sex act on an animal. Pedophile celebrities like Ian Watkins often seek out opportunities to meet new young victims, exploiting their celebrity status to abuse the young people; for instance, the court heard that in Oct 2006, Watkins had met up in a hotel room a sixteen-year-old girl from Boston who he had met in one of the Lostprophets’ concerts. The girl had dressed in a schoolchild’s outfit and Watkins had recorded their encounter and in yet another piece of evidence against him, Watkins is also said to have filmed himself having sexual intercourse with a sixteen-year-old-girl who was also a Lostprophets’ fan. Two women are reported to have offered their babies up for horrific abuse by the Pedophile rock star due to their infatuation with him (BBC News, Wales2013); the first woman was 17 years old when she began a sexual relationship with Watkins and now 21, they have been trying to rape her 11 months old-son. The other woman aged 25 is reported to have plotted with Watkins to rape her baby daughter and abused her on the camera for his pleasure after they began chatting online; the police had been notified concerning the rock star’s child sexual abuse tendencies but they had not taken any actions. The daily mail reports that three police officers had repeatedly ignored warnings that Watkins was a dangerous Pedophile, and serious child sexual claims that date back to 2008 were never investigated since the officers were in awe of the rock star. Apart from Ian Watkins, another celebrity whose scandalous child sexual abuse news has dominated media over the years is the late English DJ and television presenter Jimmy Savile; claims that Savile had committed sexual abuse on prepubescent girls and boys as well as adults were widely publicized in September and October 2012, nearly a year after his death. The Metropolitan Police Service launched formal criminal investigation branded operation Yewtree into the claims of child sexual abuse by the presenter (Chu 2012a, 3); Savile spend most of the time of his career working with children and young people, and this included visiting schools and hospital wards. For instance, Savile hosted the Top of the Pops before a teenage audience and Jim’ll Fix It, where he helped his viewers, mostly children, to achieve their dreams; earlier investigations into the sexual assault claims brought against Savile had all been dropped due to insufficient evidence to bring him to charges. Following his death, Meirion Jones and Liz Mackean of the BBC News-night team began to look into the claims that Savile was a Pedophile by interviewing one alleged minor victim on camera among others who were willing to cooperate at the Duncroft approved school near London. However, the News-night report that was scheduled for broadcast 2011 was dropped, degenerating into a major crisis at the BBC (Chu 2012b, 3); in January 2012, a number of newspapers also reported that the News-night team had gathered sufficient incriminating evidence against Savile as a Pedophile after his death but decided to shelf the report. The New York Times reports the inquiry by Dame Janet Smith, a retired court judge, into the culture and practices behind the sexual abuse furor revolving around Savile and the BBC, as well as a senior police commander’s sentiments that Savile’s behaviour might have persisted unnoticed for decades (Cowell 2012). One of the main reasons given is that the leading British institutions like the local police did not succeed in collating the evidence gathered against the decorated personality, whose repute as a philanthropist and a national treasure was impeccable (Burns & Cowell, 2013). ITV, a BBC rival broadcast a documentary on Savil’s alleged abuses, further firing anger and outrage in the public for thee apparent failure of authorities to restrain the Savil when his behaviours were a well-known secrete among his colleagues and police officers. News that the British and Australian entertainer Rolf Harris appeared in a London court to answer charges including nine counts of indecent assault as well as four that involved the making of indecent images of children have also dominated news media. The aged ex-UK TV host has been accused of indecent assault of a girl aged 15 and 16 at the same time in the years 1980 and 1981 respectively, as well as three other offences of the same nature against a fourteen-year-old girl in 1986 (Everett, 2012). In addition to the indecent child sexual abuse allegations brought against him, Harris also faces charges of making indecent child photographs between March and July 2013, and his indictment is also part of the comprehensive Operation Yewtree into the affairs of British entertainment industry’s employees that has already resulted into more than fourteen arrests so far. Harris, currently 83 years old, has been in the public limelight for decades now, and he is famed for painting the portrait of the Queen in 2005 and performing at her Diamond Jubilee concert in 2012; his first musical hit Tie me Kangaroo Down, Sport in 1960 earned him a name in music, in addition to a television career. News of his alleged child sexual abuse crimes have dominated news media for the longest time in the recent past, leading to a heightened awareness of the risk of children at the hands of celebrity Pedophiles in society today. In as much as the police had declined to name Harris and merely referred to him as Yewtree 5, a vast majority of mainstream media has identified Harris to be the Berkshire man involved in the alleged child sexual abuse claims (Drape, 2013). Having lived in the west of London for over 50 years, many young people had become accustomed to the sounds of his inimitable wobble board, didgeridoo and quirky singing style; responses to the news of Harris’s possible involvement in child sexual abuse from family, friends and neighbours alike echo shock and surprise. Despite Harris’s decline to comment on the matter, the story made headlines in the country’s leading newspapers and was on the lips of every journalist, while pictures of him splashed across the front pages of tabloids with fans expressing their shock and distress on social media. Brambell of the comedy Steptoe and Son is yet another British celebrity that has topped media over the year for his alleged abuse of two boys in a theatre in Jersey when he was at the pick of his career in the 1970s. One of Brambell’s suspected victims was an occupant at the notorious Haut de la Garenne children’s home, which had been under serious police investigation by police following child abuse claims in the year 2008. The victim claims to have been taken to the Opera House of the Island’s main theatre for a treat where he later met Brambell at the backstage room, where the alleged molestation took place. The second alleged victim, roughly aged 13 years at the time of the incident, is also said to have been abused by Brambell at the same theatre, where the BBC celebrity frequented for the sole purpose of accessing and abusing his victims in the backroom of the theatre. Brambell was a homosexual, and is reported having persistently beleaguered for immoral purposes in a public lavatory in Shepherd’s Bush, West London, in the year 1962, where he was arrested and given a conditional discharge on paying 25 guineas costs. Following these scandalous child sexual abuse allegations against this big BBC celebrity, a spokesperson from the corporation has reiterated the organization’s commitment to thoroughly following up on, and investigating any allegations brought against individuals abusing children on BBC premises. The New York Times also reports the child sexual abuse claims and conviction of Paul Gadd as a Pedophile; Gadd, better known as Garry Glitter in 1970’s when he was at the height of his rock career, has been accused of abusing a girl on the premises of the BBC (Kulish, 2012). The British media including the BBC, which broadcasted images of Mr Gadd in a gray overcoat and hat being whisked away in a waiting car outside his home, has covered the alleged child sexual abuse story so widely and heavily. Gadd is reported to have been convicted for being in possession of child pornography in Britain in 1999, as well as in Vietnam in 2006 for alleged abuse of two girls aged 10 and 11 years respectively. The Spectator took the story of Paul Gadd’s release from prison to a completely new height when they wrote that he was back again to start abusing kids in the UK neighbourhoods; the reporting really fuels readers’ imagination and fears particularly regarding Gadd’s potential re-offending against children. For instance, it writes that he (Gadd) is loose and free and currently deliberating on where to settle down, and that no child would be safe in the UK and around the world with his release after serving a brief sentence in prison (Liddle, 2008). The Spectator even suggests that Paul Gadd, irrespective of his disguises, looks exactly like a typical Pedophile and that the only probable solution to safeguarding children is the tying of a rope around his gonads. The Herald reported the arrest of Gadd too, while making commentary on the rising concerns on whether the late Savile had been at the centre of a much broader Pedophile ring; the media also highlights that hundreds of potential victims have emerged claiming Savile abused them in their teenage hood. The pervasiveness of these allegations and investigation reports in the mainstream British media have spurred a lot of concerns, not only regarding the safety of children, but also concerning the damning precedence set by these former BBC entertainment bigwigs, who have put the corporation’s reputation on the line. Child sexual abuse by these celebrities has generally raised a general moral panic of the safety and wellbeing of the children, and their vulnerability at the hands of these pedophiles that use their celebrity status as bait to access young children whom they can abuse. Ultimately, practitioners in the mass media industry manipulate media for both political and economic purposes while moral panics, news sources for media products that set out to exploit audiences’ emotions, have proliferated media today. The pervasion of crime in media sources indicates peoples’ fascination with crime and stakeholders reflect their awareness that moral panic sells television prime time and newspapers through the vast majority of the current affairs programs and tabloid press that play on fears of the public. In the wake of 1980s, discourse about child sex abuse emerged in the US as well as in the UK media, with popular culture representing child sexual abuse as a prominent subject throughout the 1990s. Generally, high reporting on celebrity child sexual abuse scandals in media has helped to instigate and propagate a moral panic that has led to the newsworthiness of media; crime has been the most persistent staple of news reporting for as long as there have been newspapers. The media does cover crime more today than in the past, and there is a particular shift in the crime coverage by media towards the more serious and violent crimes in society such as child sexual abuse by celebrities; nonetheless, there is a fundamental mismatch between the underlying crime rates and the media reporting. Media reporting is biased towards particular news such as that of celebrities charged and/or convicted of child sexual abuse, which feature prominently in news media; news and editorial values today tend to represent crime as ever-present and widespread, stimulating fear, and anxiety. References BBC News Wales. 2013. “Lostprophets' Ian Watkins guilty of child sex offences.” Bbc. [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25108439 Burns, J.F. & Cowell, A. 2013, Report Depicts Horrific Pattern of Child Sexual Abuse by BBC Celebrity, New York, N.Y. Chu, H. 2012, The World; BBC suspends 2 senior editors; A scandal surrounding programs on child molestation has led to one resignation and calls for an overhaul, Los Angeles, Calif. Chu, Henry. 2012, Company Town; New inquiry in BBC sexual abuse scandal; Questions arise over why a program about Jimmy Savile's alleged crimes was canceled, Los Angeles, Calif. Cowell, A. 2012. Former judge opens inquiry into BBC abuse case. New York Times. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/world/europe/bbc-opens-inquiry-into-savile-sex-abuse-case.html?_r=0 Drape, J. 2013. UK: UK police widen Rolf Harris investigation. AAP General News Wire. Everett, W. 2012. “Rocker Glitter arrested in U.K. child abuse case.” The Herald. Jewkes, Y. 2004. Media and Crime: Key Approaches to Criminology. London: Sage. Kulish, N. 2012. Arrest of '70s rock star widens sexual abuse case tied to BBC. New York Times. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/world/europe/arrest-made-in-bbc-sex-abuse-scandal.html Liddle, R. 2008, Our obsession with Paedophilia is more dangerous than Gary Glitter's return, The Spectator (1828) Limited, London. Steven, M. (2013. “Lostprophets' Ian Watkins admits sex offences including attempted rape of baby.” The Guardian.com. [Online]. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/26/lostprophets-singer-ian-watkins-admit-offences-attempted-rape-baby NSPCC. 2013. Statistics on child sexual abuse:A compilation of the key statistics on child sexual abuse from research and official publications. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/resourcesforprofessionals/sexualabuse/statistics_wda87833.html Read More