The media portrays stories in a way that shapes our view of the world and what is considered positive or negative by the society. The society’s experience and understanding of crime are influenced by the reporting of crime in the newspapers and other media sources. The public is usually unaware of the potential biases in the creation and reporting of crime stories, hence leading to general beliefs and conceptions that a majority of crime is “street” crime as opposed to “white collar” crime, majority of crime is violent, racial minorities such as African American men commit the most crime, crime is perpetrated by a stranger, the vulnerable are most likely to be victims of crime, and that most crimes are solved. This paper seeks to analyze how newspapers portray crime news in a way that distorts the experience of crime in the real world leading to the above misconceptions.
The media, in this case, newspapers, plays a critical role in diffusing criminal conceptions whereby crime stories are covered in a way that affects one’s estimate of the rate of crime and the interpretations that one connects to the crime. Newspaper article writers construct crime through omitting certain facts, the inclusion of information, and use of a language that affects how the public perceives crime. Crime stories are made newsworthy based on news values peculiar to crime such as the commonality of the crime, risk associated with the crime, likelihood of a sexual aspect attached to the crime, social status of the offender e.g. celebrity or high-status person, level of violence, locality of the crime, presence of graphic imagery, and involvement of the vulnerable population. Generally, the presence of dominant news values guides the selection and construction of specific crime stories into the news.
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The portrayal of crime in print media is inversely proportional to the actual or official crime statistics thus reflecting what is referred to as the law of opposites. For instance, while about two-thirds of the crime stories in print media are basically about violence and sex offenses, official police records indicate that violence and sex offenses account for only less than 10% of all crimes recorded by police. In fact, police record more nonviolent crime as opposed to violent crime. This law of opposites has been promoted by the changes in morals whereby sex and violence discussions which were previously seen as taboo are now hot topics of public interest. There is also a tendency by the media to portray a majority of criminal offenders as youths aged between 20 and 40 when actually official statistics show that more than 40% of convicted or warned offenders are juveniles under age 21. The media has established a social construct that violent crime is associated with the youth, hence it is a common occurrence having more youth arrested for violent crimes. In addition, the print media portrays a majority of offenders as racial and ethnic minorities, in spite of a much smaller percentage being involved in the criminal justice system. In this sense, minorities are overrepresented as offenders and underrepresented as victims in the newspaper news. This is to imply that when whites are victims, newsworthiness is enhanced hence supporting the stereotype that already exist in the society.
The newspapers/media portrays juvenile offenders and their offenses as irrational and unexplainable. Also, juvenile victims are depicted as blameless and innocent and instead emphasize the victim’s level of injury and focus on his/her positive attributes. This can be seen in one of the articles that say “A Hobart officer began triaging the 9-year-old victim after realizing he was bleeding from his chest and abdomen area…” Moreover, the media tends to highlight safety and security concerns in crime incidents involving juveniles. In addition, the involvement of juveniles in criminal acts is linked to other past crime trends in that area or over time, constructing a sense of youth crime wave. For instance, in one of the articles, it is reported that “This senseless shooting was a result of an ongoing gang dispute between two gang factions in Gary.”
