Summary and Review

backwards law: the idea that the way in which media present crime and justice issues is the opposite of the way in which these phenomena occur in real life.

cultural studies perspective: theoretical perspective that considers the role of media in producing and reproducing culturally relevant and socially constructed meanings.

folk devils: in the context of moral panics, these individuals or groups are the perceived menace upon which the public concern is focused.

hierarchy of credibility: the preference shown by journalists towards sources in powerful positions, casting them as primary definers whose opinions and ideas are portrayed as inherently more credible than those of others who might wish to comment upon a story.

ideal victim: the socially constructed victim who is seen as weaker than their attacker, blameless, and with whom the audience will readily sympathise.

looping: the recirculation of media content in different formats, contexts, and media outlets.

market model: a theoretical perspective that views media as a business that delivers a product intended to meet market demand.

media framing: when the media offer the audience a snapshot of events, always leaving something out.

media gaze: the way in which the perspective on society conveyed in mainstream media is similar to the dominant institutional perspective and encourages the audience to adopt the same perspective.

missing white woman syndrome: the far more frequent and intense news coverage of instances where White women or girls go missing compared to instances where the missing persons are not White or not female. Researchers generally attribute this term to Gwen Ifill, PBS news anchor.

moral entrepreneur: individuals or groups who attempt to draw attention to and impose their moral perspective on behaviours they deem deviant or criminal in order to advance their own interests or political agendas.

moral panics: periods of intensified or frenzied public concern, the level of which is out of proportion with the actual threat posed by the object of concern.

new media: internet-based news, entertainment, social media, video games, etc. that are interactive.

news values or news worthiness criteria: the aspects of stories used by news media to determine which stories will be deemed of interest to the media audience and, thus, reported on.

organisational model: a theoretical perspective that views the routines of day-to-day news production as the most significant factor in shaping news content.

personalisation: the process of making something personally relatable for the audience.

primary definers: individuals to whom the media turn to first to help define and explain a situation, who are perceived as having more specialised knowledge due to their institutional affiliation or professional position and, thus, as more credible sources (government officials, criminal justice system personnel, academics, etc.).

propaganda model: theoretical perspective that views the media as intentionally manipulating news content so that it aligns with the interests of the media owners and other powerful individuals or groups in society.

racialisation of crime: the assumption that the crimes committed by racial minorities can be explained by their race.

representation: the process of socially constructing images and attaching signification/meaning to them.

secondary definers: individuals who have the task of responding to the definition of a situation as set out by the primary definers (including journalists who reproduce and/or filter what the primary definers have stated, as well as oppositional definers who journalists may include to provide a counter-point to what the primary definers have stated).

simplification: the process of making something easier to understand, which also results in a loss of detail and complexity.

social responsibility model: theoretical perspective that views the media as playing an important role in upholding democracy, ensuring an informed citizenry, and shining light on abuses of power.

stereotypes: socially-constructed category or label relying on generalised assumptions about people, behaviours, or situations based on a specific characteristic (such as race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, neighbourhood, gender, social class, etc.).

symbiotic relationship: an interaction between two individuals or groups that is mutually beneficial.

traditional or legacy media: traditional types of media (that existed pre-Internet), including print (newspapers, magazines, books), visual (films, television programs), and audio (radio, music recordings) forms.

victim-blaming discourses: ways of talking about victims and victimisation that place at least part of the responsibility for the harm done to the victim on their own behaviour or attributes (e.g. how they were dressed, what they said, where they were, what they were doing, which measures they took to defend themselves, etc.).