The Representation of Crime in London's Media Essay

The Representation of Crime in London's Media - Essay Example Media like to present the most sensational news to the readers. In the case of crimes also there is a tendency to publish the ideal victims more frequently than the other victims. It has become so common in the world and the same is with the media in London. The part played by media in representing the crimes cannot be neglected as in the new era of information technology. The Book titled Victims, Crime and Society edited by Pamela Davies, Peter Francis, and Chris Gheer state the importance of media in dealing with the reporting of crimes and the related matters very well. They consider media as, â€Å"They are of fundamental importance to those who would promote a particular view of crime victims and victimization, or seek to challenge or change existing views† (Davies, Francis & Greer, 2007, p.8). So the news articles in media influence people and make a vision of the reality in the minds of readers. The points of a medium are different from another and so the reality is cat egorized in each and every newspaper. The visual media also is filled with the elements of crime in it. The people of London cannot get away from the clutches of TV and internet. They are attached to it very deeply. The crimes appear in these agencies attract people’s attention to it. ... Surely, the involvement of media can be seen in each and every crime recorded in media. Not all crimes get space in the media and those crimes which have news value find its space in the media. Chris Greer comments, â€Å"†¦there exists a hierarchy of victimization, both reflected and reinforced in media and official discourses. At one extreme, those who acquire the status of ‘ideal victim’ may attract massive levels of media attention, generate collective mourning on a near global scale, and drive significant change to social and criminal justice policy and practice (Greer, 2004, p.22). The writer further gives the description of ideal victims as â€Å"a person or category of individuals who- when hit by crime-most readily are given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim, including those who are perceived as vulnerable, defenseless, innocent and worthy of sympathy and compassion† (Greer, 2004, p.22). In this manner those persons who can catch attention and sympathy of the readers easily is grouped into ideal victim. The ideal victim should possess a note of compassion and sympathy from the readers. The more intensity of the ideal victims, the higher is the chances for its appearance in news media. These persons increase the circulation of the media in the society. Crime is a key ingredient of a news media. Almost in every news media there is special space for adding crime stories, just like giving special space for sports news. David Levinson in Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Volume1-4 rightly puts, â€Å"Researchers analyzing a variety of different types media and media markets have found that crime accounts for between 20 and 50 percent of the total space available for news† (Levinson,