How the Australian Media Frames Crime and Police Related News - Case Study Example

Police, Public and the Media Introduction Presently, the media plays a major role in the society since it acts as the main link between people across diverse distances through varied mediums such as electronic media encompassing the radio, television and the internet or the print media encompassing newspapers, press releases and magazines among others as indicated by Gitlin (1980). The media is so powerful such that modern societies are depending on it as the most reliable and valuable source of news and look up to the media as the watchdog of the society, which protects the society from vices such as corruption, poor governance, lack of democracy and bureaucracy in the governments among others. Tiegreen & Newman (2008) states that the media is charged with social and commercial advocacy, entertainment, offering public service notices and announcements. As Schudson (2003) highlights news as we receive them are framed by the media either to make the news content comprehendible by the common person or to attract and retain the attention and focus of the public. A frame is the core structuring idea for understanding relevant situations and implying what the issue is as defined by Entman (1993). News and information have no inherent worth saved when packaged in a meaningful perspective that organizes them and make the news and information coherent (Pan & Gerald, 1993). Primarily , media frames are often not spoken about and are less acknowledged despite their great impact in shaping the world socially, politically, culturally, economically, financially and legally as well as influencing perceptions, outlooks, insights and view points of news reporters themselves and those who receive the news items (Gamson, 1988). According to Goffman (1974), media frames entail continual patterns of comprehension, interpretation and dissemination of continuously selected or excluded organized discourse. In Australia, media frames have shaped the way the public perceives and reacts to varied issues be it business, social or political issues (Cunningham & Turner, 2010). This lays down the basis of this study which is to identify media frames that are routinely adopted by the Australian media to report crime and police related news. It is particularly critical to analyze this because the media has the power to significantly influence public perceptions about crime and policing. This is important because, the police rely heavily on community support to execute their policing function. How the Australian media frames crime and police related news Among framing devices regularly used in news reports include visual imageries, use of metaphors, use of exemplars, depictions and use of catch phrases as highlighted by Kuypers (2002). For the study, the news story with content of crime that has been identified is a recently published developing story of the rising cases of drug-related crimes. A story written by Stephen Johnson and carried by the Chronicle on the 15th April 2011, organized crime has been costing the Australian economy fifteen billion dollars annually owing to the fact that Australia has the highest number of users of illegal party drugs globally, which makes it a recruative market for drug traffickers (Johnson, 2011). According to the news report, the fact the economy is being put under strain due to the growing drug market, drug related crimes are a national security issue. An important perspective that the news report seems to focus specifically on is the link between Australian drug market with drug traffickers with association with South American drug syndicates and the prevailing ethnic crime among particular groups (Johnson, 2011). The news report links the developing cases of organized crime with other criminal offences such as money laundering, tax evasion, high-tech crime, fraud and internet based crime in the short and medium term. Among commonly traded and used illicit drugs in Australia in clued ecstasy and ice, cocaine and crystal meth (Johnson, 2011). With the launch of the Organized Crime in Australia report, the news report suggests that it is the most all-inclusive research conducted in the recent past, thus, commending the Australian Crime Commission. This news report has similar media frames as those used by Joel Creswell on April 14th 2011 for The Sunday Morning Herald, which gives dominance to the link between Australia affluence, its extensive number of Australian locals using illicit drugs with Mexican drug cartels (Croswell, 2011). Both reports emphasizes on the cost the drug related and organized crime has on Australian economy, the role of ethnic crime and the growing trends of crimes associated with organized crime such as motor cycle gangs, cyber crime and money laundering. Both reports are categorical on the need for enhanced collaboration between law enforcers, the industry players and the policy makers in order to effectively and efficiently combat organized crime (Croswell, 2011). A notable trend among crime related news is the tendency to link crime with ethnicity as indicated by an editorial on the root cause of crime published by news.com.au on August 1st 2011 (Editorial. 2011). Reporting on the armed robbery at Molden Terrace, the Neighborhood Watch NT published a crime story linking the crime to a suspect perceived to have Aboriginal appearance supports the framing of crime using ethnicity (Neighborhood Watch. 2011). This form of framing echoes a common trend among published policing and crime related news among Australian media. Majority of the news stories on drug-related crimes are framed using a neutral tone with little or no mention of the negative health consequences of the drugs to the users, which would impact on the audience by compelling them to take decisive actions as noted by Beckett & Sasson (2005). The media framing of crime related news in Australian media is predominantly use of episodic frames where the media puts more emphasis on the immediate event or issue at hand and focus less or gives not attention to the context on the primary issues as echoed by Stevens (1998). Another common media frame used by Australian media to report on police related and crime related news is use of thematic frames where the news report places more emphasis on the bigger picture by stating statistics, figures, expert assessments or any significant information which will help the public see the issue in a broader context as noted by Cunningham & Turner (2010). It is clear that majority of crime related news are either dramatic and are inadequate in context in regards to establishing the patterns of threats, they lack in historical and social interpretations of issues and fails to connect the events or issues with wider social concerns (Hughes, et al., 2010). This observations rhymes with those highlighted by Hall et al. (1975), who indicates that crime news reports offer detailed accounts of specific criminal occurrences and offers little attention to broader trends in crime thus , failing to place issues of crime on a broader context. The author’s sentiments are echoed in the form of media frames adopted by Australian media covering crime and police related news which are descriptive in nature focusing more on the step by step account of crimes as reported by eye witnesses. Often, little mention or none is given to comprehensive analysis or reports on what the police administration is doing to apprehend criminals, mitigate risks of crime, and enforce law and order or what their perspectives are on the crime as discussed by Bird (2010). Little significance is given on what the police have to say about the crimes. Crime and police related news and issues are generally covered using a mixture of media frames which ranges from the above mentioned to a blend of horse racing frames where the crime and police reports are depicted in terms of who is winning or losing the war, trend story, where the news reports on crime are analyzed as a continuing trend in the society and reaction story where the media presents the response from one of the major players who in this case are usually the police administration (Carlyle, 2003). The framing used by Australian media to report on events and issues related to crime and the police echoes opinions given by Lancaster et al. (2010), which suggests that the media focuses less on issues and more on events thus, failing to examine the core causes of crime, risks of crime and effective solutions to crime. Moreover, lack of consensus on the accounts of crimes as reported by the media and as reported by the police and increased focus on violent crimes and dependence on limited range of sources to build news stories on crime (Riffe, 2004). This type of media framing of news stories covering crime and police related news has the impact of making the public focus on crime less casually, as they are not able to comprehend the adverse social, cultural and societal impact of crime as supported by White (1996). Since the media highlight the negative impact of crime such as organized crimes in terms of monetary loss, the public fails to connect emotionally with the issue and therefore, do little or none to collaborate in the fight against the specific crime. In order for the police to win against the war on crime and effectively achieve their set goals and objectives founded on community participation, the Australian media needs to focus more on issues and less on events as suggested by Rane et al. (2010). In addition, focus less on individual incidents and more on the underlying social, cultural, political and economic perspectives in order to help the public understand the implications and collaborate in enhancing law and order as supported by Lakoff (2004). Conclusion To establish the media frames, the content of news is less significant than the interpretation the news is given. Media frames are based on how news is constructed by reporters in order to capture the epitome of an event or an issue with the intent of making it understood by the target audience. More often, media frames are used to define a problem, structure the thoughts about it and suggest possible solutions to the problem. The media is a strong tool in shaping the attitudes, perceptions and opinions of the public on important social, political, commercial, economical, cultural and legal issues. Therefore, adopting the right framing translates to tackling of social issues affecting the society effectively and efficiently by amassing the efforts and insights o f all stakeholders. References Beckett, K. & Sasson, T. (2005). Crime in the Media. Political Research Association. Accessed on http://www.defendingjustice.org/overview/beckett_media.html. Retrieved on 3rd Aug 2011. Bird, S.E. (2010). The anthropology of news & journalism: global perspectives. Carlyle , K.E. (2003). Exploring media framing: an issue development approach to understanding the dynamic nature of media frames. New York: Wake Forest University. Dept. of Communication. Croswell, J. (2011). Crime report highlights Mexican drug risk. The Sunday Morning Herald. 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