Examining the Accuracy of Print Media Representations of Homicide in Australia
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Author(s)
Waters, Emily
Bond, Christine
Eriksson, Li
Year published
2017
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Lethal violence is particularly ‘newsworthy’, and international research suggests that media representations of homicides provide a distorted depiction of the actual nature and risk of homicides. Understanding media portrayals of homicide is important given the impact crime reporting may have on public opinion and policymaking. However, much of the past research has been conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom. Using a sample of Australian newspaper articles published between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2012, this study focuses on whether media representations of homicide are consistent with the actual characteristics ...
View more >Lethal violence is particularly ‘newsworthy’, and international research suggests that media representations of homicides provide a distorted depiction of the actual nature and risk of homicides. Understanding media portrayals of homicide is important given the impact crime reporting may have on public opinion and policymaking. However, much of the past research has been conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom. Using a sample of Australian newspaper articles published between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2012, this study focuses on whether media representations of homicide are consistent with the actual characteristics of homicide in Australia (as reported in the National Homicide Monitoring Program (Bryant & Cussen 2015) data). This study revealed mixed findings. Although the reporting in the sample was generally inconsistent with official homicide victim and situational characteristics, the reported offender characteristics were similar to the actual characteristics of offenders in Australia.
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View more >Lethal violence is particularly ‘newsworthy’, and international research suggests that media representations of homicides provide a distorted depiction of the actual nature and risk of homicides. Understanding media portrayals of homicide is important given the impact crime reporting may have on public opinion and policymaking. However, much of the past research has been conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom. Using a sample of Australian newspaper articles published between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2012, this study focuses on whether media representations of homicide are consistent with the actual characteristics of homicide in Australia (as reported in the National Homicide Monitoring Program (Bryant & Cussen 2015) data). This study revealed mixed findings. Although the reporting in the sample was generally inconsistent with official homicide victim and situational characteristics, the reported offender characteristics were similar to the actual characteristics of offenders in Australia.
View less >
Journal Title
Current Issues in Criminal Justice
Volume
29
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2017, Published by The Institute of Criminology, University of Sydney. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Criminology
Criminology not elsewhere classified
Sociology
Law in context
Legal systems