The Representation of Crime in Londons Media - Essay Example

?The representation of crime in London’s media Introduction: Media has very deep influence in the life of people and so they have become so attached with the people. The news that appears in media can bring the readers under its magic spell. Many things connected with people and society come out in the media and at present the replica of the society can be seen in the media. Among many of the incidents at present, crime takes a key position in the media. It is very rare to see the media without any crime stories in it. Media represents crime in different ways. There are different in accordance with the various points of view of the agency. Media like to present the most sensational news to the readers. In the case of crimes also there is a tendency to publish the ideal victims more frequently than the other victims. It has become so common in the world and the same is with the media in London. The part played by media in representing the crimes cannot be neglected as in the new era of information technology. The Book titled Victims, Crime and Society edited by Pamela Davies, Peter Francis, and Chris Gheer state the importance of media in dealing with the reporting of crimes and the related matters very well. They consider media as, “They are of fundamental importance to those who would promote a particular view of crime victims and victimization, or seek to challenge or change existing views” (Davies, Francis & Greer, 2007, p.8). So the news articles in media influence people and make a vision of the reality in the minds of readers. The points of a medium are different from another and so the reality is categorized in each and every newspaper. The visual media also is filled with the elements of crime in it. The people of London cannot get away from the clutches of TV and internet. They are attached to it very deeply. The crimes appear in these agencies attract people’s attention to it. Often the crime representations are trying to segregate a group of people and hence the media representations are often turned to be biased. The present essay analyzes how the media in London represent the crimes and how it is transacted into the mind of the people. Media has become a super imposing agent in transmitting the view points of people. It has certain methodology in the reporting of the incidents. Surely, the involvement of media can be seen in each and every crime recorded in media. Not all crimes get space in the media and those crimes which have news value find its space in the media. Chris Greer comments, “…there exists a hierarchy of victimization, both reflected and reinforced in media and official discourses. At one extreme, those who acquire the status of ‘ideal victim’ may attract massive levels of media attention, generate collective mourning on a near global scale, and drive significant change to social and criminal justice policy and practice (Greer, 2004, p.22). The writer further gives the description of ideal victims as “a person or category of individuals who- when hit by crime-most readily are given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim, including those who are perceived as vulnerable, defenseless, innocent and worthy of sympathy and compassion” (Greer, 2004, p.22). In this manner those persons who can catch attention and sympathy of the readers easily is grouped into ideal victim. The ideal victim should possess a note of compassion and sympathy from the readers. The more intensity of the ideal victims, the higher is the chances for its appearance in news media. These persons increase the circulation of the media in the society. Crime is a key ingredient of a news media. Almost in every news media there is special space for adding crime stories, just like giving special space for sports news. David Levinson in Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Volume1-4 rightly puts, “Researchers analyzing a variety of different types media and media markets have found that crime accounts for between 20 and 50 percent of the total space available for news” (Levinson, 2002, p.1041). Among the criminal reporting, some of them are given more priority while some are ignored as these may have fewer readerships. The writer further says, “Sex and violence are priority news topics, and editors generally emphasize the most serious, heinous, and rare crimes that involve them. Murder, rape, and other serious personal crimes are disproportionately emphasized, while white- collar, property, and environmental crimes are ignored” (Levinson, 2002, p.1041). The Independent, a major news daily in London reports on the death of two babies and the arrest of their mother with the headline as , “Mother arrested after two babies found dead in Wands worth” (Morgan, 2012). The headline attracts the readers very easily and there are chances for the circulation hike of the paper. Another news agency, The Telegraph reports the story with the headline as, “Mother questioned over the death of her two children” (Hough, Evans, 2012). The photo of the accused is given here for more clarity. In analyzing the crime stories in these two news papers it can be seen that the news paper which succeeds in sensationalizing the issue get more readers. Here a trend of the British media is given. The writers, Ian Marsh and Gaynor Melville take the incident of the murder and mutilation of five or six prostitutes in 1888 in the East End of London and the murderers were not caught. The news papers spread the news of East End as highly dangerous. The media coverage “emphasized and exaggerated the stereotypical view of the East End of London as being a ‘crime and disease ridden, uncivilized “jungle” full of semi-barbarians’- with the press adopting the name Jack the Ripper(taken from a letter sent to the Central News Agency, almost certainly by a hoaxer after the fourth murder (Marsh, Melville, 2009, p.3-4). The word Ripper has been taken in the general sense and the media celebrated the incidents with different ideologies. The reporting of the media degraded the place, East End and for many years the place had to bear the wounds given by the media. The crime reporting thus became a fashion and got encrypted in to the media. The writers state that the activities of the serial killer got fitted into “that category of crime reporting” (Marsh, Melville, 2009, p.4). These suggest that ever from the beginning of media involving with the people the crime stories have been the key attraction. They enabled in increasing the popularity of the media. The visual media in London carry the elements of crime. It has got much influence among the teenagers in London. Children committing crimes are mostly influenced by the programs in the visual media. It is said, “Movies and other forms of visual media often depict a high- consumption lifestyle that is largely unattainable for most youth” (Snyder, 2011). These youth do crimes to get more money and luxurious life. Youth influenced by TV and movies trend to do any heinous act on others. It can be seen the rate of crimes committed by teenagers are on the rise. The further interrogation proves that they are highly influenced by the programs in the Television and the related media. So, whatever appears in newspapers cannot be fully believed as the representations of news may be twice of thrice changed. Often it has been said that the representations in the media at sometimes is away from reality. There are ethnic and racial discrimination of reporting crimes in media. It is a common belief that young black men are prone to be stereotyped and carry a high chance for high delinquency. Almost all media consider the black and Asian people in London having high chance for breaking the rules. The Blackman are considered as criminals from the very time of slavery. So the term criminal black man came forward. The writers, Helen Taylor Greene and Shaun L. Gabbidon say, “During the 1970s and 1980s, the Black male became labeled as a criminal predator, otherwise referred to as the “criminal black man.” Further the writers comment that, “There is more negative than positive representation of the Black male in newspapers, in magazines, and on television newscasts” (Greene, Gabbidon, 2009, p.165). They are marginalized by the media and so there occurs a high tendency among the black to protest against the society thus making the situation further intensified. Often it has been found out that most of the media ownership is by the white. Even though the social evil like slavery is abandoned still the black are put as evil by the media. This gives a negative message to the people and thus the matter gets alleviated into more trouble. The frequency of crime in mass media is on the rise even though the graph of the same in the data of the government is on the decrease. The media wants to popularize the crime stories among the people and so the aims of the media turn to be mere profiteering. This has made the media the audacity to report the crimes. Even though, in serious crime incidents the analytical aspect is lost. The viewers or readers also do not give much emphasis to such stories. Mike Maguire, Rodney Morgan and Robert Reiner comment in their book, The Oxford Handbook of Criminology as, “with variations according to medium and market mass media news and entertainment are saturated with stories about crime. These disproportionately feature the most serious and violent crimes, but strip them from analytical framework” (Maguire, Morgan & Reiner, 2007, p.327). The crime in London gets changed. The name of the act is changed to social deprivation. It is sure that social deprivation is highly associated with people involving in crime acts. David E. Morrsion. Mathew Kieran, and Michael Svennevig state, “The high level of crime in London was put down, as one man said, to social deprivation. Thus, if social deprivation was the cause of crime then one would expect crime to surface wherever social deprivation occurred, hence, the mentioning of Glasgow, historically associated with deprivation” (Morrison, Kieran, Svennevig, 2007p.119). These kinds of social deprivation cause the persons to turn against people and society. The frustration of the black and other ethnic groups who are marginalized by the press and other media turn to be the acts of crime from them. In interviewing many of the noted criminals it can be seen that most of them are deprived of their self either by the persons or by the society. Often these things do not get much popularity. The role of the media is also a reason for the increase of crimes in the country. Conclusion: After analyzing the relationship between crime and the media in London it can be found out that the rate of crime in the government account is on the decline whereas the same in the media is a common phenomenon. There are different methodologies that the media incorporate to their strategy of reporting crime stories. The media has been reporting the crime news with much pleasure. They spread the most heinous crime at the beginning and the remaining in the following. What media attempts to project is based on the commercial aspect of it. The right of truth is often disabled and mutated. The news capitalists like Murdock and others are an example of the fraud in print media. In a place like London, most of the people are city dwellers and so each news article carries the intensity and influence. The media has a great role in diminishing crime in the land provided the media attempts steps on it. So the media takes a key role for the increase and decrease of the crime in a land. It should have a social commitment than focusing on mere profit to push down the crime elements from the society. References Davies, P., Francis, P., Greer, C 2007, Victims, Crime and Society, illustrated, SAGE Publications Ltd. Greer, C 2004, News, Media, Victims And Crime, sagepub.com, viewed 12 May 2012, http://www.uk.sagepub.com/stout/greer_news_media%20-%20vic_crime_soc.pdf Greene, H.T, Gabbidon, S. L 2009, Encyclopedia of Race and Crime, Volume 1, SAGE. Hough, A., Evans, M 2012, Mother questioned over the death of her two children, The Telegraph, viewed 12 May 2012, . Levinson, D 2002, Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Volumes 1-4, illustrated edn., SAGE. Morrison, D.E., Kieran, M., Svennevig, M 2007, Media & Values: Intimate Transgressions in a Changing Moral and Cultural Landscape, Intellect Books. Maguire, M., Morgan, R., Reiner, R 2007, The Oxford Handbook Of Criminology, 4th illustrated edn., Oxford University Press. Marsh, I., Melville, G 2009, Crime, Justice and the Media, illustrated edn., Taylor & Francis. Morgan, T 2012, Mother arrested after two babies found dead in Wandsworth, independent.co.uk, viewed 12 May 2012, . Snyder, S 2011 Sociology and psychology - Movie Portrayals of Juvenile Delinquency, part 2, CBS Interactive, viewed 12 May 2012, . Read More