Media Misrepresents The Nature Of Crime

Today’s society is comprised of multiple platforms of media, both mainstream and alternative, which is responsible for distributing and informing members of the public about events. Through the use of platforms such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines and social media, the media is able to present perceptions on multiple issues. It is often found, however, that the media sensationalizes events to sell stories, this is demonstrated in the frequent distortion of crime. This essay will discuss the ways in which the media misrepresents the nature of crime through newsworthiness, media for profit and crime rates. The media presents an image of crime that is inaccurate, with the statistics often demonstrating the misinterpretation of the amount of crime that …show more content…
Crime rates are essential to consider, rather than the number of offences, as crime rates are standardised, resulting in statistics that correspond the number of people in a geographic setting with reported crime (Makkai & Prenzler, 2014). Only considering the number of crimes is misleading as it doesn’t account for an increase in aspects such as population growth or ‘risky areas’, features that impact the statistics greatly (Makkai & Prenzler, 2014). The Australia Bureau of Statistics reported crime rates had increased for the first time in six years, 2010 to 2016, across all categories of crime, however the media has long since been projecting this information to the public (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). The media doesn’t count, nor include, the demographics of an area, representing a seemly increase in crime due to over-reporting and lack of crime rate information (Media Portrayals of Crime , n.d.). As a result of negligent use of statistics, the media over-represents the state of crime, leading the public to believe the nature of crime to be constantly increasing, commonly