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Abstract

The media play a pervasive role in contemporary society. In a twenty-four hour culture of instant access and immediacy, through a multitude of platforms, the commercial market has become a powerful producer of mediated knowledge. However, the value of this knowledge depends entirely on whether truth is presented objectively and impartially. Biased and misleading representations, based on partisan opinion rather than evidence and fact, can fuel intolerance towards marginalised groups within society. Research suggests that existing hostility towards such groups reflects a tendency to associate them with criminality and deviance, especially during times when crime rates are perceived to be rising. The media play a central role in increasing the political salience of crime and public support for punitive penal policies. This dissertation analyses the influence of the media on public punitive attitudes. It does this through a consideration of the relationship between crime and its representation in the media. It explores the progressive stages of stereotyping, stigmatisation, and demonisation that reduce an ‘individual’ to an ‘other’ and examines concepts of punitivity, and the public’s attitudes and opinions regarding punishment. The findings show that hostile, right-wing media reporting plays a considerable role in influencing public punitiveness by using the reductive action and binary extremes of ‘othering’ to fuel the intolerance that fuels punitivity. This has important implications as the potential impact of such influence on society may be seen in an increase in hostility, aggression, and violence towards demonised and marginalised ‘others’.

Course: Crime and Criminology - BSc (Hons) - C2113P

Date Deposited: 2020-11-23

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13608.html