13.2: Crime and Media

Crime and media are intricately and historically linked. In our modern society, crime infotainment such as documentaries, podcasts, tv series, and other true crime media are incredibly popular. Journalistic reporting of crime and victimization has changed drastically since the time of print newspapers as we now get stories about crime from social media and other online outlets. Additionally, there is growing distrust for “the media” and “the news”—the ambiguous collective—that leads to public questioning of crime-related information.

Criminologists and media scholars alike have their work cut out for them. There is a heap of research already that assesses how the media portrays victims, perpetrators, and crime issues. Much of this research looks at the ways in which gender, race, religion, and other identities are represented in crime-related media. For many criminologists, the accuracy of an impact that these portrayals have on victims, public opinion about justice issues, knowledge of the legal system, and more are incredibly important.

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