Criminology Unit 1.4
Describe Media Representation of Crime
Over-report: To say something has happened more times than it has.
Invasive: Intruding on a person’s thoughts or privacy.
Glamorise: To make something seem better than it is and therefore more attractive.
Mis-represent: To describe falsely an idea, opinion, or situation.
Glorify: Describe or represent as admirable, especially unjustifiably.
Scaremonger: To spread stories that cause public fear/panic.
Embellish: To add or change some details of a story, usually to make it more interesting or exciting.
Types of Media
Factual
Newspaper: Newspapers convey the reporting of current crimes and the impact of those crimes. An
example of a newspaper article is the Manchester Arena bombing, written by the Daily Express. The
crime represented in this newspaper article is individual crime. In the article, scaremonger tactics are
utilised. Scaremongering refers to the spread of stories that causes fear/panic. In the article,
statistics are presented in order to cause terror among an audience. The statistics presented are,
“Terror in Manchester: 22 dead, 119 injured”.
Television News: News on television refers to a program devoted to current events. An example of
news on television is BBC News. The crime represented in the news presented on television I am
focusing on is individual crime. Particularly, “On a knife edge: The rise of violence on London’s
streets”. In this program, it discusses knife crime in Tottenham, exaggerating its severity with the
various techniques implemented. In the video, the news reporter had taken an invasive approach.
Invasiveness refers to intruding on a person’s thoughts or privacy, which was constant within the
duration of the video. An example of where invasiveness was portrayed was when individuals with
knives were asked to present their knives on screen. This technique may have been implemented in
order to raise alarm to their audience. Though presenting the knives weren’t necessary, the news
reporter may have included this in order to spread fear among their audience.
Social Media: Representation of crime can be spread from various social media platforms, devoting
its awareness to current news. An example of representation of crime on social media is Hackney’s
Twitter page. On Hackney’s Twitter page, techniques such as over reporting had been utilised. Over
reporting refers to claiming something has happened more times than it has. To elaborate on my
point, knife crime and drug crimes were heavily reported on their page, dismissing other crimes. The
effect over reporting has on an audience is the perspective that a certain crime may take place more
than it does. For example, due to Hackney’s Twitter page constantly reporting knife and drug crime,
an audience may believe that the rate of the specific crimes is higher than they may be.
Describe Media Representation of Crime
Over-report: To say something has happened more times than it has.
Invasive: Intruding on a person’s thoughts or privacy.
Glamorise: To make something seem better than it is and therefore more attractive.
Mis-represent: To describe falsely an idea, opinion, or situation.
Glorify: Describe or represent as admirable, especially unjustifiably.
Scaremonger: To spread stories that cause public fear/panic.
Embellish: To add or change some details of a story, usually to make it more interesting or exciting.
Types of Media
Factual
Newspaper: Newspapers convey the reporting of current crimes and the impact of those crimes. An
example of a newspaper article is the Manchester Arena bombing, written by the Daily Express. The
crime represented in this newspaper article is individual crime. In the article, scaremonger tactics are
utilised. Scaremongering refers to the spread of stories that causes fear/panic. In the article,
statistics are presented in order to cause terror among an audience. The statistics presented are,
“Terror in Manchester: 22 dead, 119 injured”.
Television News: News on television refers to a program devoted to current events. An example of
news on television is BBC News. The crime represented in the news presented on television I am
focusing on is individual crime. Particularly, “On a knife edge: The rise of violence on London’s
streets”. In this program, it discusses knife crime in Tottenham, exaggerating its severity with the
various techniques implemented. In the video, the news reporter had taken an invasive approach.
Invasiveness refers to intruding on a person’s thoughts or privacy, which was constant within the
duration of the video. An example of where invasiveness was portrayed was when individuals with
knives were asked to present their knives on screen. This technique may have been implemented in
order to raise alarm to their audience. Though presenting the knives weren’t necessary, the news
reporter may have included this in order to spread fear among their audience.
Social Media: Representation of crime can be spread from various social media platforms, devoting
its awareness to current news. An example of representation of crime on social media is Hackney’s
Twitter page. On Hackney’s Twitter page, techniques such as over reporting had been utilised. Over
reporting refers to claiming something has happened more times than it has. To elaborate on my
point, knife crime and drug crimes were heavily reported on their page, dismissing other crimes. The
effect over reporting has on an audience is the perspective that a certain crime may take place more
than it does. For example, due to Hackney’s Twitter page constantly reporting knife and drug crime,
an audience may believe that the rate of the specific crimes is higher than they may be.
