How The Australian Media Covers And Reports Crime

CSI, Law and Order, Fox News, Making a Murderer, Nancy Grace and Cops: these shows have large audiences and high ratings, showing that western society is obsessed and mesmerized with crime and criminal activity. Crime and media go hand in hand, as the media frames crime as a major social problem, due to the lack of policy and policing certain behaviors. The media and the criminal justice system go together, like peanut butter and jelly, a sandwich of chaotic fruits and nuts. The media is quite concerned with policing, but much less about the court system, consequences, and the punishment received by the offender, devising misconceptions of the judicial processes. There are several different sociological perspectives pertaining to the media

Media coverage of news events can be disseminated to the general public in any number of different ways and media biases often “reflects certain organizational and/or professional preferences or values” (Bennett 2011, 173). In fact, Lundman (2003) points out “that journalists assess the newsworthiness of homicides occurrences using the relative frequency of particular types of murders and how well specific murder occurrences mesh with stereotypical race and gender typifications (357).” In addition, Johnson (2012) felt that the real job of media was to “create a message that…grabs public attention (62).” In other words, can the media grab the public’s attention and hold it?

Walkowitz's investigation of this chapter primarily highlights the influential role of the press in the form of subjectivities and behaviors. She argues about the media coverage of these murders presented a discourse

Milagros Canjura was around seven months pregnant when found shot to death outside her Bay Shore home in Long Island, NY. The 31-year old rented an apartment with her husband (whom friends say was in jail) in the Stein Drive community (LINK 4). Family members say that Canjura was heading to work when the suspect parked right next to the home walked up to the car and opened fire. The victim’s body was found dumped on the beach. Officials say this is a retaliation hit from the gang MS-13 who had a reputed member murdered. Officials also state that this gang has a history of revenge killings involving family members.

Since 1960, 200,000 murders have remained unsolved, allowing dangerous people to continue to walk the streets. There have been murders for a number of reasons from gang related violence to domestic disputes. The United States had 16,121 murders in 2015 alone. However, the scary part of all of this is how horribly the United States Justice System has failed at solving these crimes. Only 67.1% of all murders end in arrest which means that out of the 16,121 murders in the United States last year only 10,817 were solved which means that over 5 thousand of these murderers still walk the streets. This alone makes people very angry and want to seek revenge or become a vigilantly such as the case of the Judge in the novel And Then There Were None.

Our images of crime can be found upon the media, this includes: Television, News Publications and Novels in which we read. It is known that news editors and journalists make the decision of whether or not a story is fit for publishing, they determine this by looking at certain values including: the risk, violence level, immediacy, unexpectedness and the amount of drama/action.

The allure of crime for the general public is the deviant behavior itself. Crime brings about multiple questions that crime dramas answer. Why would a person commit such a crime? Why was that person a victim? What are the surrounding circumstances? These are questions arise for most violent crimes in society, but in the news media not much is reported as the police must keep investigations under wraps. Resulting in an area of intrigue between the action and the courtroom that primarily focuses on the action itself and the extenuating circumstances of the action. This is where television dramas fill the void by quenching the public’s thirst for insight into the social taboo of violent Mala Prohibita crimes. In order to do this though cable companies have to make the crime shows

The main objective of the criminal justice system is to control crime rate in Australia and broader consensus proves that it should remain as a dominating feature in administration of criminal justice. Decrease in crime rate can be achieve by the effective means of reacting to the call for help or service, collection of evidence from the crime scene and arresting if necessary. The system also helps administration by serving the sentence enforced by the court. The criminal justice system also helps in identifying and eliminating the conditions that leads to criminality. The main strength of the criminal justice system is to do justice and consider the person innocent until the person is proven with the charges and declared guilty. This system

Many times, the media is the main cause in contributing and encouraging the creation of crime myths. The mass media have responsibilities to update the public on the activities occurring domestically and internationally. Stories or reports have to grab the attention of viewers and often times this is accomplished through methods of dramatizing and sensationalizing stories. Instead of stating solely fact, mass media reports have become bias opinions, allowing for it to evolve into more of an entertainment business rather than news.

In November of 2012, Harold Henthorn was charged with first-degree murder after his wife, Toni, tumbled face-first to her death off a mountain cliff. Inquisitr covered this news story in an article entitled “Harold Henthorn Pushes Wife from Cliff? Sinister and Gruesome Details Emerge.” By analyzing the content, format, and context of the article, it becomes clear how Inquisitr conveys their own message and intends for the crime to be represented in a particular, calculated way.

In reference to the media’s role, they have been highlighted for playing a part in maintaining these views by portraying victims in a certain way according to the newsworthiness of each story

In article “Murder Isn’t a Nationwide Problem”, John R. Lott, Jr., does not struggle to layout the statistics that prove to us, the audience, that murder really isn’t a nationwide problem and that killings only take place in some places. In fact, the last sentence he states is: “To put it simply, murder isn’t a nationwide problem; it’s a problem in a very small set of urban areas”. Throughout the article, Lott, Jr. gives us many statistics saying the murders and the population in these “urban areas”.

The Herald Sun opinion piece persuades readers to think about the Bali Nine situation in a negative way. Whereas, the more formal piece from the ABC News wants the readers to make up their own opinion on the subject and voice it on social media via Twitter. Both news articles inform the target audience of the grim background of the Bali Nine and their issues with drug smuggling. Although, Mayfield’s article is balanced within the positives and negatives of the issue, journalist Elliot believes the situation is very black and white and denounces it in a very narrow minded manner. Elliot’s strong view stimulates debate on the issue of the death penalty for drug trafficking, Mayfield’s article has conveniently outlined the pros and cons of a clemency bid to his

Different forms of media, such as television, films, books, and newspapers, have similar ways of portraying the criminal justice system. The media constructs representations of crime and justice and in doing this, it presents an often dramatized representation of the criminal justice system; and this does not just influence on the public’s lay view of crime but also for criminal justice experts (Marsh, 2014). In the media it is commonly known that they are a business, and businesses need to make a profit. Because of this, the media’s portrayal of the criminal justice system has been very negative. With the news, their main purpose is to produce what sells. So many of them would edit the information they have gathered and make a story that will sell. Also the media does not show the full process of the criminal justice as a quick process, while in fact it is not. For example, last year, Netflix released a short series called “Making A Murderer”. Most people claimed that they feel like they can solve a crime when they finished watching a series. While that series is very factual, it does not hit every single step of the criminal justice process.

The public depends on the news media for its understanding of crime. Reportedly three quarters (76%) of the public say, they form their opinions about crime from what they see or read in the news (Dorfman & Schiraldi, 2001). After reviewing five hours of reality crime television shows, one is left with a very dismal look on society and a prejudice towards minorities as they are largely depicted as the perpetrators of crime. This new genre commonly referred to as reality television appears to be sweeping the nation by storm. Opinions vary, depending on whom you ask, to what extent reality plays a role versus the selling of a product. Sensationalism, advertising, ratings hype, profiling and fear all comprise the mass