media magazine

Crime and the media

Crime and the media is a topic which can accommodate all the key factors you need as an A Level Media student tackling independent critical research. Sean Dunne outlines some important current issues and suggests some possible routes for primary research.

Crime has always been one of the staple foods in the media consumer’s diet. From ‘Wanted!’ posters and the first newspapers to ‘most wanted’ websites and Grand Theft Auto video games, crime has been enduringly popular. Whatever the genre, for both audiences and producers, the tried and tested formulae of crime stories offer a guarantee of the widest range of human drama – viewed from the safety of our seats.

Any study will need a focus, and you’ll have to decide whether to investigate fact or fiction, drama or current affairs, news or film, documentary or reality shows. Start by listing all the different crime media genres you can. My students came up with 14 – can you beat them? Underlying each of these format are the same issues of representation, audience, narrative and ideology.

Representation and ideology
Some key representations in crime-based media have been:
• crime itself (a ‘problem’) vs the police (our protectors)
• criminals (the bad guys) vs criminal justice systems (a mess)
• lawyers (corrupt or freeloaders) vs courts (soft)
• social workers (incompetent, interfering do-gooders)
• victims (innocent) vs the public (a nuisance).

Although there is evidence of some change, we still take many of these representations for granted. ‘Of course’, we say, ‘crime is a problem.’
At this point, we need to step back and question our culturally-instilled values. Start by thinking about what we mean by the term ‘crime’. Are there any actions which are universally forbidden? Try to compare laws from different countries, such as those regulating drugs, alcohol and ages of sexual consent to see how much they differ. Laws relating to property rights, freedom of expression and killing vary around the world because they are culturally and historically constructed according to ideologies and values in societies. We cannot assume that our way is right; it’s just what we have been brought up to believe to be right. The media play a vital role in reinforcing such ideologies through the representations they offer.