Media Influence and Crime Myths People Who

Media Influence and Crime Myths

People who watch the News on television believe there is a lot more crime than there really is, according to researchers. This apparent effect of watching televised Newscasts is in addition to the effect of crime programs, movies, and made-for-television dramas which also perpetuate crime myths. Most people are unaware that they believe in a myth. The myth of crime has been rhetorically constructed through discourse and has sunk into the collective consciousness. People talk about it until they believe it. Once a myth is embedded in consciousness, it is difficult to dislodge. This essay will focus on the role the media plays in the maintenance and perpetuation of crime myths and some ideas for dislodging them.

Television (radio, too) exists and profits by the sale of advertising. The more viewers expected to watch a program, the more money TV executives can get for the time they sell to advertisers. The programs themselves are considered "fillers." It's the advertising time (and money) that counts and is important. Thus, producers and TV executives are interested is what will draw the biggest audiences. Crime apparently sells. People seem to be fascinated by dramatic accounts of crime and by stories that center around crime. Witness the popularity of recent programs which focus on crime scene evidence. "CSI" has been such a hit that many spin-offs are already on the air as well, and on cable TV "reality shows" like "Cold Case Files" and "American Justice" purport to document true crimes and how they were solved. Yet, even the reality shows present a distorted picture of police work. For one thing, the crime has to be solved in half-an-hour. Most of the drudgery and set-backs must, therefore, be cut from the story (and the part-time nature of police crime-solving work -- if what Bohm says is true, and the police only solve crimes about 10% of the time). Plus, because there are so many of these programs on now, it gives the impression that murderers (particularly serial killers and rapists) are everywhere plotting their deadly deeds and preying on unsuspecting, vulnerable women. A myth that is not mentioned by Bohm in his article is that women are the main victims of crime. It isn't true, but on TV they always are.

The News itself also promulgates the illusion of increasing violent crime by over-publicizing sensational crimes. Recently, a child was snatched from her bed by a man who had a history of sex offenses. The child lived very near this man's sister. During the week that the child was missing, it was impossible to avoid hearing "the latest" about the case, and the suspenseful aspects as the case unfolded were played up. Newscasters apparently choose what to cover on the News according to what they think will entertain and keep the audience glued to their sets. Certainly, there were other things going on in the world that week that were important. But the emotional nature of a child case, the agony of the parents and grandparents, the horror and fear that a similar sex offender could come to stay in one's own neighborhood -- all this combined to make a good show. It's really kind of sickening when you think about it. When did the disappearance, molesting, torture, and death of a child become entertaining? This obsessive focus of the media implies that such a violent crime could happen to anybody's child, that this kind of crime is increasing, and that law enforcement is ineffective to control it. Actually, most child molesting is not perpetrated by strangers. It is most often someone the child knows. But these cases are not publicized.

The News also strengthens the myth that violent crimes are mostly committed by certain groups of people. Black men are often shown being taken away in handcuffs and being transferred between prison and court in orange jumpsuits. Because these men are frequently poor, they have no resources with which to protect their privacy. One rarely sees an affluent white businessman being placed under arrest, regardless of the type of crime he has been accused of committing. Such news coverage strengthens the idea that there are only two types of people -- criminals and law abiding citizens.

Some whole cities have fallen under the eye of the camera and been judged criminal. Detroit, for example, has a terrible reputation for crime, mostly due to publicity given it on TV. Probably, it is not coincidental that Detroit is also a "black" city, where more than 70% of the citizens are "law-abiding" African-Americans. People who live in other parts of Michigan think Detroit is literally filled with criminals and is much more violent and crime-ridden than it really is. The crime rate in the affluent suburbs around Detroit is actually greater than in the city.

As already stated, once a myth becomes embedded in consciousness, it is difficult to dislodge -- difficult, but not impossible. At the turn of the last century, racial stereotypes of black people abounded. The media portrayed them as stupid, childlike, ignorant, immoral, and superstitious. This myth of racial inferiority was embedded in the collective consciousness of white people. Newspapers and magazines constantly held up blacks as objects of ridicule and scorn. They probably thought it made good reading and would sell lots of papers and magazines. However, our society has made great strides during the past 45 years to irradiate such stereotypes (although the myth of blacks and crime still persists). Most young people, who were not exposed to a diet of racial bias, laugh at such portrayals. The media could do a lot to change our beliefs about crime, too. They could produce stories about other problems, for one thing. They could make movies that show the social forces that produce criminal behavior. They could stop sensationalizing and over-reporting crime for entertainment. Police stories could be more realistic. Instead of inviting crime victims to come on and tell all, talk shows could invite experts to talk about and point out the discrepancies between the myth and the reality. News programs could focus on events of genuine importance, instead of exploiting the families of crime victims. They could report good things happening. Because the myth of crime was created by talk, the media could get the country talking about sources of crime in society. And since our penal system is almost entirely devoted to punishment now, rather than rehabilitation, the media could start to examine the success and failure of punishment as a way to control behavior. Most people in prison for crime were excessively punished (that is, abused) as children. These things are rarely discussed on television. And people depend on television to present ideas for them to think about and develop attitudes toward. If the public could become aware that "criminals" are not the "other," perhaps we could make some headway in the control of crime. I don't hold much hope that the media will do this, however, at least not in the near future. The media seems to function more toward preserving the status quo.