MASC 2900

Topics in Mass Communication

 

 

Crime News Reporting: Beware the Formulaic!

By: Jason Robison

 

Television news and a culture of fear go hand in hand all too often. Jeremy Lipshultz’s book, Crime and Local Television News examines the role that crime coverage frequently plays in deluding and scaring its audiences. Crime news get more time and better timeslots because, to quote the old cliché, “If it bleeds, it leads.” It is comparatively easy to cover and is considered to attract viewers. Crime news often exaggerates the threat and frightens people and also frequently tends to support stereotypes about minorities in an underhanded way. News of local crime is essential but the manner in which stories are chosen and shared with the audience needs to change. Local crime needs to be broadcast in context rather than a sensationalistic “You Could Be Next” mentality.

Crime stories are easy to cover when compared with many other types of stories. There is a good guy and a bad guy and a story of a dramatic confrontation. There is violence and people get hurt. The authorities respond with a display of power and the bad guy either dies, escapes, or is captured. The formula is simple and doesn’t change much from place to place. This approach allows reporters with limited knowledge of an area to succeed with a flashy story. The formula helps “homogenize news rather than diversify it” (11). The problem with all this success is that it has a hidden cost. Following a formula and possessing limited knowledge about crime statistics and the local area produces sensationalism to fill the gaps in the news story. Crime stories are easy to cover when the reporters blindly follow a formula and make poor or nonexistent attempts at placement within a context. The people watching the shows often perceive the exaggerated insinuation of crime rates as real through social construction of reality. The result is an audience that is either fearful and depressed or skeptical and disgusted at the presentation of the story.

There are immense pressures on news organizations to cover crime in an attention-grabbing manner. The corporate bosses of the journalists push them to seek the drama of violent crime to hype their newscasts. They do this because they know that their station has to compete with multiple other stations for a limited regional audience. They know that channel surfers will often stop on a scene of carnage out of the intrinsic curiosity of the human herd. If they can attract all the viewers possible their ratings will climb and their jobs will be secure. Nevertheless, graphic videos of violence are usually withheld and shots of a reporter on the scene with dramatic video affects and eye catching icons and titles are used instead. The whole event is repackaged in a way that is meant to be scary but not to be so gruesome as to inspire complaints. This trend is alive and well today and examples can often be found as the leading story of a newscast.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States includes the words “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” It is legal for journalists to tell a story in almost any way that includes the basic tenets of the truth of the matter, though there are of course guidelines directing what will be beneficial to the news organization. Before those guidelines there are the considerations of ethics and media accountability. When there are choices regarding what stories are covered, what videos are used, and what stories are promoted the most, it is vital that decisions are made from an ethical viewpoint rather than from a business stance. The welfare of the audience must take precedent over the pocketbooks of the owners and if ethical guidelines are followed and honest hard work is done, both will benefit.

It is interesting to look at how local news deals with the punishment of violent criminals. In general, much more attention is put on the crime than on the punishment. When the punishment is a prison term the coverage usually halts shortly after the term has begun, due to lack of access to prisons and a sense of closure to the case. Prison conditions and the general efficacy of the penal system are skimmed shallowly or ignored altogether, although a prison riot always brings out the news crews to capture fodder for the fear machine. Capital punishment is a favorite topic on news programs. It is dangerous to cover because people’s reactions aren’t always predictable but it almost guarantees an audience due to its controversial nature. People like to see someone who did something horrible get their comeuppance. Whether executions will continue to garner so much attention in the future is unknown, depending on to what extent the media is allowed participation by the government and the entertainment value of the method of execution. There is no doubt that in the future crime will continue to be covered much more than punishment.

Probably one of the most controversial elements of news stories regarding violent crime is how race plays a role. A journalist who is not racist can still unconsciously possess preconceived notions or stereotypes about minority groups. If those are projected through the story the public could easily be offended and prejudicial behavior could possibly be strengthened. Despite struggling hard to ensure equity in reporting, minorities are often shown as exotic groups who do not live like regular people and are frequently embroiled in either exotic cultural festivals or dramatic criminal actions. More minorities need to be interspersed within news teams and news stories about regular events. Great strides have been made in the racial sensitivity arena by newscasters in the recent past and those successes can be built upon by a conscious effort to strive toward the ideal of objectivity when dealing with all types of criminals and an awareness and extraction of personal prejudices on the part of the news team.

Crime news is not going to go away. What needs to occur is a better balancing act. Media outlets should be allowed to use a small degree of attention grabbing showmanship to acquire an audience but that should be balanced out with a thorough overview of the facts and statistics surrounding each case so that viewers can understand the events in context rather than immediately judge those involved based on prejudice.

The news makes its business out of providing the type of information people want. If the public wants to change the way crime is covered, we need to become more deeply involved with news organizations and let them know our views and what we will do if they do not comply with the demands of social responsibility. If we truly want them to change and push for it, they will change.

Crime and Local Television News was an interesting book to read, even if a bit dry. There were numerous examples of crime news stories that had been handled either well or poorly. As a reader, I learned that there is a lot more to covering a crime story in an ethically and socially responsible manner than simply following the standard formula that we all recognize so easily when it appears on our television screens.