Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 1 of 13

NEWS REPRESENTATION AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF CRIME

Understanding news representation and the social construction of newsmaking requires an

examination of the conscious and unconscious processes involved in the mass dissemination of symbolic

consumer goods. These commodities of news production and the images of social reality that they invoke

are inseparable from their cultural histories. Moreover, mediated characterizations of crime and criminal

justice, of criminals and social control, projected in news presentations are representations themselves of

culturally shared visions accessed through commonly unfolding historical narratives, in which average

people and most journalists come to know crime and justice in developed societies. In other words, crime

and justice stories produced by news media for mass consumption reflect and reveal much about those

societies’ views of themselves, “good” and “bad.”

In brief, these “crime news” stories are not objective or value-neutral. Regardless of the prominent

theoretical orientation to media studies—Durkheimian, Marxian, or feminist—there is agreement that

although crime and justice representations are highly selective and unrepresentative of their subject

matter, they are viewed as essential for unraveling the relationships between crime, control, justice, and

social order because these news stories respectively reproduce moral boundaries, legitimate law and

order, and reinforce gender stereotypes—all of which help to reify unequal power relations as well as

inequality throughout society. Nevertheless, within and without the news business there are also all kinds

of sources and values that shape the processes of newsmaking in general and newsmaking criminology in

particular.

Herbert Gans (1980: 284) in his classic study of the national news in the United States and by way

of his examination of the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and Newsweek and Time magazine,

argued that “news is about the economic, political, social, and cultural hierarchies” and that reporting

focuses “on those at or near the top of the hierarchies and on those, particularly at the bottom, who

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 2 of 13

threaten them, to an audience, most of whom are located in the vast middle range between top and

bottom.” He defined news as “information which is transmitted from sources to audiences, with

journalists—who are both employees of bureaucratic commercial organizations and members of a

profession—summarizing, refining, and altering what becomes available to them from sources in order to

make the information suitable for their audiences” (Gans, 1980: 80). Conceptually, Gans (1980: 52)

divided news stories into two types. Those stories about “disorder news” that report threats to all kinds of

order as well as the measures taken to restore order, and those stories about “routine activities” that are

normative and usually pose no direct threats. Despite their differences, both types of newsmaking help to

reproduce the dominant social order.

Within disorder news, Gans identified four subcategories distinguishing between natural,

technological, social, and moral disorder. Mediated crime and justice tends to focus its reporting primarily

on external activities that threaten public peace and private security, typically involving physical violence

to persons and/or property—social disorder—and secondarily on reported transgressions of laws and

mores which do not necessarily or which may and may not endanger the social order, such as many of the

activities associated with “victimless criminality”—moral disorder. The fundamental distinction between

these types of disorder stories being the value of intentionality or culpability that can be attached to those

who may be violating the social or moral orders.

Other media theorists from the UK such as Steve Chibnall (1977) and, more recently, Yvonne

Jewkes (2004) have more specifically mapped out the news values that not only shape the reporting of

crime, but that also help to locate those values within the larger practices of journalism. For Chibnall,

these included: immediacy, dramatization, personalization, simplification, titillation, conventionalism,

structured access, and novelty. Jewkes has updated and expanded on those professional news imperatives

identified by Chibnall. Her list also includes threshold, predictability, individualism, risk, sex, celebrity,

proximity, violence, spectacle and graphic imagery, and children. These journalistic values that
[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 3 of 13

increasingly rely over time on visual imagery with respect to film/ video and print, have also served as a

primary devise for defining normative and deviant behavior, identity, and reality, yielding a picture that

often makes it difficult, if not impossible, to clearly distinguish between the perception, reaction, and

production of crime and justice. In the process of news crime construction, whatever the distinctions,

crime and crime control represents order through constituting an active discourse that “provide people

with preferred versions and visions of social order, on the basis of which they take action” (Ericson,

Baranek, and Chan, 1991: 239).

At the end of the newsmaking day, the mediated construction of crime and justice becomes the

socially constructed reality when in reality this is the socially constructed subjective reality. According to

Surette (2007), there are four stages in the social construction of crime and five contemporary crime-and-

justice frames that provide fully developed socially constructed templates that allow claims and claims

makers to succeed in making their representations of crime and justice stick to the media overload of

information. Stage one consists of “the physical world” enveloped by conditions, events, and properties

that establish the boundaries or background in which the other stages must frame their interactions. Stage

two consists of the “competing social constructions” or differing descriptions of the physical world of

crime and justice offered up by various claims makers.

It is at stage three, “media as social construction competition arena” in which Surette (2007: 35,

40) argues that the media play their most powerful role filtering out competing constructions, typically

favoring those positions that “are dramatic, sponsored by powerful groups, and are related to

preestablished cultural themes” or to the five prevailing crime-and-justice frames described by Theodore

Sasson in Crime Talk (1995): “faulty system,” “blocked opportunities,” “social breakdown,” “racist

system,” and “violent media.” In newsmaking practice, moreover, not all claims and claims makers are

equal. For example, the claims and claims makers from law enforcement and criminal justice usually have

more influence as both experts on crime and justice and as sources of information for reported crime and
[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 4 of 13

crime control stories. In a similar fashion, crime news reporters are more open to those already existing

claims and to those claims makers who can connect their interests to those same claims or crime-and-

justice news frames.

Briefly, Sasson (1995: 13-17) has identified the causes, policies, and symbols associated with each

of the mediated dominant frames or themes of crime and justice. The “faulty system” thematic argues that

crime stems from criminal justice leniency and inefficiency. Its policy is to “get tough” and “tighten up.”

Symbols have included “handcuffed police” and “revolving door justice.” The “blocked opportunities”

thematic argues that crime stems from poverty and inequality. Its policy calls for addressing the “root

causes” by creating jobs, community development, and reducing poverty. Symbols have included “dead-

end, low paying jobs” and high unemployment rates. The “social breakdown” thematic argues that crime

stems from family and community breakdown. Its policy calls for citizen involvement and community

efficacy/policing. Symbols include “family values” and “take back the streets.” The “racist system”

argues that the problem of crime stems from a criminal justice system that operates in a discriminatory

fashion. Its policy calls for greater sensitivity to racial justice and to the empowerment of those groups

discriminated against. Symbols include “profiling” and “differential application” of the criminal law.

Finally, the “violent media” thematic argues that crime, particularly violent crime, stems from the amount

of extreme violence in the mass media. Its policy calls for more governmental regulation of the

production and distribution of violent imagery. Its symbols include “life imitating art” and “copycat

crimes.”

Stage four represents the emergence of dominant news themes or the “winning social

construction” that often drives, if not, determines criminal justice and crime control policies, trumping

empirically based or driven policies. According to Surette (2007: 36), those “social policies supported by

the public and the solutions forwarded by the policy makers are tied to the successful construction[s]. For

crime and justice, the socially constructed reality will define the conditions, trends, and factors accepted
[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 5 of 13

as the causes of crime, the behaviors that are seen as criminal, and the criminal justice policies accepted as

reasonable and likely to be successful.”

What Should Be Done About Violence in the Media?

[a suggested approach for writing an opinion essay to answer the above question]

FIRST, read and understand the question: What should be done about media violence?

SECOND, decide on your answer, your “bottom line,” which you will defend.

Possible bottom line: There is no real way to stop media violence because we live in a free society.

THIRD, write down several true, “thesis” statements which, when added up, will convince your reader
that your bottom line is reasonable.

Possible statements:

In a free society, people can say what they want.

Corporations exist to make money, and violence sells.
Parents have to exercise control over their children.
Consumers can support entertainment that is non-violent.
Most people do not imitate violence that they see in the media.

FOURTH, put the thesis statements into an order that you think will flow with the most powerful effect.

Possible order:

1. In a free society, people can say what they want.

3. Corporations exist to make money, and violence sells.
5. Parents have to exercise control over their children.
4. Consumers can support entertainment that is non-violent.
2. Most people do not imitate violence that they see in the media.

FIFTH, develop an introduction which spells out the question that you are going to answer. Include your
“bottom line” somewhere in the introduction:

Possible introduction:

The world’s media today seem to have more violence than ever. Video games have vivid
depictions of accidents, catastrophes, fighting and murder. Television news programs generally lead with

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 6 of 13

a violent story in order to gain an audience. The movie industry promotes action stories with terrorists
and homicidal maniacs. Many people feel that the violence is out of hand, and they want to do something
about it. I’m not sure that censorship is the answer. There is no real way to stop the violence in the media
if we want to live in a free society in which expression is protected by the Constitution.

SIXTH, expand each of the thesis statements into paragraphs. Be sure that ALL the information and
comments in the paragraph bolster (support and explain) the thesis statement. NOTHING extraneous
(extra and unrelated) should be included.

Possible paragraph supporting thesis statement #3:

Corporations exist to make money, and violence sells. Video games with the most
graphic, detailed depictions of murder and mayhem are generally the best-sellers in the market.
TV corporations want to increase their ratings so that they can sell more advertisements at higher
prices. News programs showed the jets crashing into the World Trade Center, as well as the
beheadings of hostages held by Iraqi insurgents, again and again, because they knew that viewers
would be glued to their TV sets. Movie blockbusters with explosions and shootings and disasters
tend to draw the largest crowds. In a capitalist economic system, making money is the bottom line.
Violence sells, so it airs.

Here is an example of the same paragraph that goes off on tangents with extraneous ideas that DO NOT
support the thesis statement:

Corporations exist to make money, and violence sells. Video games with the most
graphic, detailed depictions of murder and mayhem are generally the best-sellers in the market. I
prefer different kinds of video games, like Ping Pong or Pac Man. They are some of the original
video games that were released. Once, I was the high school Pac Man champion. Tetris is another
game I tried to get really good at, but it was very difficult, so I stopped playing it. Television
violence is found everywhere. There are hundreds of stations on cable TV and I have it in my
home. Sometimes I watch TV for more than five hours a day.

SEVENTH, write a conclusion that contains a recommendation, wish, prediction, personal philosophy
that relates to the question, or a combination of these:

Possible conclusion:

People living in a free society must get used to the inconvenience caused by having to see or hear
speech that they may dislike or even hate. That inconvenience is well worth the discomfort it may cause
because government control over thought is a much greater inconvenience. An educated, thoughtful
society can live with more freedom the more its citizens take personal steps to ensure that their personal
decisions are not reckless but are, rather, healthy and showing consideration for others. Then, even with a
lot of bad ideas floating around, such as the idea that violence is entertaining, the society can survive and
prosper without censorship.

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 7 of 13

Media Violence: What if we Changed the Question?

An overview of the issues and five guidelines for action.

By Elizabeth Thoman

When Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, assistant dean of Harvard University’s School of Public Health, begins one of her
speeches on the growing crisis of violence in society, she often tells the story of a young gunshot victim she treated in a
Boston hospital emergency room. He expressed surprise that his wound actually hurt.

"I thought, boy, he’s really stupid, anybody knows that if you get shot, it’s going to hurt. But then it dawned on me that on
television, when the superhero gets shot in the arm, he uses that arm to hold onto a truck going 85 miles an hour around
a corner. He overcomes the driver and shoots a couple of dozen people while he’s at it."

For decades, the media industry has been trying to tell us that the violence seen on TV and in movies also doesn’t hurt,
that is, that despite its glamour and impact, it plays no role in making a more violent society.

This is not to say that violence on the screen is the sole cause of violence in the streets. But media violence does
reinforce the myths and images, beliefs and attitudes of a culture of violence. It is a messenger for violence as a way of
life.

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 8 of 13

Even if we don’t become more aggressive ourselves, we are all affected by the way others behave toward us. And by
seeing violence over and over, we also learn to accept and tolerate violence as "the way things are."

At the very least, media violence influences our kids (and us, too) by modeling and glamorizing the use of deadly force as
a first choice to solve conflict between characters.

We will never totally eradicate violence from our lives or from the media. That is unrealistic. As long as there are human
beings on earth, there will be violence among some of them. But enough questions present themselves about the
cumulative impact of violence as entertainment (ie. violence portrayed without consequences or violence as funny) in
television, movies, videogames, music and even advertising, that I believe we must, as parents and teachers, as citizens
and community leaders, look more closely at the issue of media violence and find ways to reduce it, especially in the lives
of our children.

No responsible person advocates that violence in the media is desirable. So how does it happen that the media continue
to be filled with escalating amounts of violent imagery?

One reason is that for 40 years, American society has been engaged in a "circle of blame" about media violence. The
"circle of blame" results from a complicated web of ratings and economics that combine to create a system in which each
party feels powerless because "somebody else" has created the problem and, therefore, "somebody else" should solve it:

• Viewers blame those who write and create the shows;

• Writers/directors say the producers require violence in programs in order to get them financed;
• Producers blame network executives for demanding "action" in order to get ratings.
• Network executives say competition is brutal and blame the advertisers for pulling out unless a show gets high
ratings;
• Advertisers say it’s all up to the viewers!

Another reason is that for those same 40 years, the "circle of blame" has been fueled by one unanswerable question:
Does watching violence cause someone to become violent?

Although there is clear evidence that some children imitate Ninja kicks and that occasionally someone will "copycat" a
crime seen in the media, we all know from personal reflection that for most viewers most of the time, the watching of
violence does not itself cause people to commit criminal violence — or we would all be murderers!

Thus it is easy to deny that media violence is a problem. And it is easy to continue pointing fingers, waiting for "somebody
else" to "do something."

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 9 of 13

But suppose we asked different questions? What if we asked: what does watching violence — over many years — do to
our minds? To our hearts? Yes, to our souls? Is the long-term cumulative impact of violence as entertainment
transforming our personal worldview? Our collective psyche as a community and as a nation?

Children have always learned how to be and behave as adults from the stories of their childhood. Mass media today are
society’s storytellers. What kinds of stories are we entertaining our children with? Most importantly, what values and world
views do these stories communicate?

In the past two decades we have become deeply concerned about the physical environment we are passing on to our
children. The cultural and spiritual environment they are inheriting is equally, if not more, important.

It is these questions that now challenge us today as individuals, as parents and as a society. And it is these questions
that can help us break the "circle of blame" by encouraging each of us to accept responsibility for reducing media
violence wherever we are. What can we do? Here are five ideas.

1. Parental/adult responsibility for managing media in the lives of children is fundamental.

Parent/teacher organizations, churches, libraries and community groups that sponsor classes and programs to
help parents learn to set and enforce age-appropriate viewing standards provide a valuable service for families
— and society. When children watch less television, they will see less violence.
Young fathers, uncles and older brothers especially need to get the message that too much media violence can
truly harm children. Most violent media is targeted at adult males, 18-49. They must be challenged to examine
their preference for "action-adventure" especially when children are present.

2. But parents also have a right to expect that society and its entertainment industries accept responsibility
for not harming children by allowing the creation of a cultural environment which can endanger children in their
formative years.
Teddy bears and children’s pajamas are subjected to more safety standards than are the TV shows that
entertain our children for hours each day. An African proverb states: "It takes a whole village to raise a child." We
are all responsible for the cultural environment in which today’s children are growing up. That includes the media
makers and media owners who control what goes out over the public airwaves or floods our cultural landscape in
the images of pop culture. They must behave responsibly as good corporate citizens. And they need to be
steadfastly challenged when they do not.

3. Research indicates that the effects of viewing media violence can be mitigated in all age groups by
learning and applying critical viewing and media literacy skills.

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 10 of 13

Media literacy curricula provide a variety of teaching tools to deconstruct the techniques used to stage violent
scenes and decode the various depictions of violence in different media genres — news, cartoons, drama, sports
and music. It is important for children to learn early on the difference between reality and fantasy and to know
how costumes, camera angles and special effects can fool or mesmerize them. Research shows that critical
skills of media analysis can be taught from the earliest years and, through guided practice, can become everyday
habits for both children and adults.
Media literacy education is a necessary component of violence prevention for young people. It must become a
community-wide initiative in cities and towns throughout North America.

4. There is much denial about the impact of media violence because accepting it as a problem means we
might have to make changes in our own lives and values.
Accepting it as a problem challenges those adults who unconsciously — or consciously — take pleasure in
violent entertainment. Accepting it as a problem means we may have to face the shadow side of our human
nature which most of us want to avoid. Accepting it as a problem means we might have to admit our own
complicity in the greedy callousness that can corrupt the human spirit.
Media critic Elayne Rapping notes that if there is more media violence today, it’s partly because, yes, we live in a
more violent world. But that violent world was created not so much by Rambo films as by our own tax dollars
which support multinational arms dealers and international corporations that make billions of dollars on military
technology. Unfortunately there is a healthy profit to be made by escalating fear and hatred into ever-more
sophisticated ways to maim and destroy human lives.

5. Finally, there is no one solution to the problem of media violence in our time.
But there are many steps that each of us can take, wherever we are, to reduce the amount and impact of violent
entertainment in our lives and in the lives of children. And, as in so many other movements, it is the accumulation
of those individual actions that adds up to create an unstoppable force of public opinion. "I’m willing to be a
pebble," says the poster at my nearby Ben & Jerry’s, "if I’m also part of an avalanche."

We will continue to have a problem with media violence until a majority of the American public understands why it is
harmful and decides to change their own behavior — recognizing that their behavior, along with others, cumulatively adds
up to widespread social change. Just like we have all come to believe that every single pop can we pick up is one small
step in saving the environment.

It’s time to break the "circle of blame" by engaging millions of people in a national movement that leads from awareness
to action, from passivity to engagement, from denial and blame to accepting responsibility for what each of us can do as
individuals, as parents, as citizens in today’s media society.

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 11 of 13

Is there a link between violence in the media and violence in real life? This has been a subject of debate
since the days of radio, especially in the United States, where research on violence in the media is
prevalent.

There's quite a bit of debate among media researchers (and everyday people as well) as to how much of a
connection there is between media violence and real life. Although most researchers believe that the
effects of media violence are mitigated by other factors and are rarely direct, some do believe their is a
strong correlation between exposure to media violence and real life behavior. Other theorists argue that
media violence researchers have grossly overstated their case, and that media violence does not impact
individuals or society as much as many believe.

Here's a basic primer on media violence theories.

Read more at Suite101: Theories of Violence in the Media: Desensitization, Cultivation Theory, and
Other Concepts http://www.suite101.com/content/theories-of-violence-in-the-media-
a52284#ixzz1EFsyxWJy

Magic Bullet Theory

The magic bullet theory-- or hypodermic needle theory--was much more common among media
researchers in the early 20th century than it is now. This theory posits that media messages impact people
in direct, measurable, and immediate ways-- as if a bullet hit the body, or as if the body was injected with
a substance from a needle. Most researchers argue that these kinds of effects are rare, or involve events of
little consequence. For example, when someone watches a pizza commercial and then orders the pizza
seen on the TV, this is more or less a magic bullet effect. However, it's much less likely that someone will
see a school shooting on TV and then immediately attack a school.

Desensitization
This theory posits that because people are exposed to so much violence in the media, violence no longer
makes a strong emotional impact upon them. Most people would agree that by watching lots of violent
movies, a viewer no longer gets upset while watching violent movies. However, the debate surrounding
this concept is whether people will also be desensitized to real life violence. If a person leaves the movie
theater after seeing a violent film, and then sees a real dead body on the street, will this person still
experience desensitization?

Cultivation Theory
Cultivation theory focuses more on how people's attitudes are impacted by the media, rather than just
behaviors. Although attitudes and behaviors are intricately related, cultivation theorists focus on how
people think more than what people do. Much of this research involves comparing the attitudes of heavy
media users, moderate media users, and light media users.

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 12 of 13

Read on

• Key Concept of Film Studies – Is Genre Essential to Film Success?

• Media Violence Research
• Power of the Media, History of Mass Media Study

One finding of this research is that when people are exposed to heavy media violence, they seem to have
an attitudinal misconception called mean world syndrome. This means that they overestimate how much
violence actually occurs in their communities and the rest of the world. People who are exposed to less
media violence have a more realistic sense of the amount of violence in the real world.

Sociological Approaches to Media Violence

A less common way of studying media violence is sociological. Sociological theories of media violence
explore the ways that the media impact and reinforce dominant ideologies and values in a culture. For
example, a researcher might look at correlations between media violence and attitudes about masculinity
in a culture, or how media violence reinforces and reflects a nation's violent foreign policy. Sociological
theories of media are not measurable-- rather, these are theoretical ways of looking at the media's
relationship with culture.

The social learning theory of human behavior can be used to explain many sociological phenomena, but it
applies to social violence in a particularly urgent way. With scholar Albert Bandura at the forefront of this
movement, those who believe in a social learning theory of violence believe that children and adults are not
born to be aggressive. Rather, they argue, people acquire certain violent attitudes and emotional response
patterns through modeling.

Nature and Nurture

1. The social learning theory of violence rejects the idea that violence and aggression are
natural and thus should be accepted. In the social learning theory, issues of gender attitudes
come into play because men are often socialized to be aggressive from an early age. This
hypothesis is corroborated by Bandura's research on modeling, in which he had male and
female children watch a video of aggressive behavior toward a doll. The children, who were
then left alone in a room with the same doll, exhibited a familiar pattern: male children were
more aggressive than female children.

Situational Factors

2. Certain circumstances lead to the reproduction of violence much more quickly than
others. A family full of stress, aggression or violent behavior is likely to condition any child to
behave in the same way. In addition, other factors such as substance abuse, financial
difficulty or marital instability tend to lead to violence being accommodated within the home.

Studies

3. Other larger studies have corroborated the social learning theory of violence. In a 20-year
study following children through adolescence and into adult romantic relationships, the

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]
Seven Steps to Writing an Opinion Essay (Rick Shur) Page 13 of 13

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons found that children who
experienced violence or witnessed their parents using violence against one another were at
a significantly increased risk of being involved in an abusive relationship when they became
adults. Unlike other studies, this one found no gender pattern in the relationship between
child violence and adult violence.

Alternative Theories

4. The two most common alternate theories for the existence of violence are the instinct
theory and the drive theory. As popularized by Sigmund Freud, the instinct theory holds that
man is automatically equipped with an aggression-generating system, and that such
aggression must be periodically discharged. The drive theory states that the aggressive
drive is not inherent but instead stems from frustration. In contrast, the social learning theory
finds a multiplicity of causes and effects of human aggression; aversive experiences lead to
emotional arousal, which leads to many specific types of violent behavior.

Important Differences

5. An important theoretical part of the social learning approach to violence is Bandura's

assertion that violence stems from a common, diffuse state of emotional arousal. Unlike past
theorists, he does not distinguish between drive states or assert that one specific state
causes violence. Because this state of emotional arousal begins with no set path, instincts
that could lead to aggression could just as easily lead to euphoria; emotional states can be
relabeled. Thus, with social adjustments, emotional arousal does not necessarily have to
lead to violence and can be channeled in another direction.

Read more: Social Learning Theory of Violence | eHow.com

http://www.ehow.com/about_5402420_social-learning-theory-violence.html#ixzz1EFtY7CEa

[http://eslprof.com/handouts/Comp/MediaViolence.doc]