Television news magazine crime stories: A functionalist perspective

Grabe, Maria Elizabeth

doi:10.1080/15295039909367084

Cited by 24 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…This is consistent with past studies on news and drama programming crime content (Bae 2000;Grabe 1999;Soulliere 2003). The average number of justice related segments covered per program was .74 for Hardball, 1.09 for Lou Dobbs, 2.04 for O'Reilly Factor, with an aggregate average of 1.29.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

“Fair and Balanced?” Justice Issues on Political Talk Shows

Britto

Dabney

2010

Am J Crim Just

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Like their news program predecessors, many political talk shows focus a considerable amount of their coverage on justice issues. Although numerous past studies have examined justice issue presentation in news programs, infotainment, and crime drama, to date only one forthcoming study has examined crime and justice coverage on political talk shows. Political talk shows often present issues in a debate format, as well as emphasize the balanced nature of the content in advertising, with one program even using the slogan "fair and balanced." Building upon the format of previous media studies, we analyzed a composite month of videotaped footage of three popular political talk shows appearing on cable networks: CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Mathews, and The O'Reilly Factor from the Fox News Channel. Using content analysis techniques, this study examines balance in the form and content of these programs in terms of presentation of justice issues, political party identification of hosts and guests and realistic presentations of race and gender in the context of crime and justice. Results indicate that these programs tend to adopt an advocacy tone rather than an objectivist one. Furthermore, we demonstrate that racial and gender portrayals of crime and justice on these shows are significantly distorted from reality, with a priority afforded to white female victims of violent crime and minority male offenders.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

“Fair and Balanced?” Justice Issues on Political Talk Shows

Britto

Dabney

2010

Am J Crim Just

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show abstract

“…Such events draw public attention, but news organizations also perform a functional role in placing a moral evaluation on such acts by drawing a clear line between what is acceptable and what is deviant. Grabe (1999) argued that television news-magazine crime stories serve a functionalist purpose by teaching viewers to abide by certain rules, and they promote cohesion between persons by making it public when individuals have violated shared moral values. Crime news is also entertaining and resembles crime fiction.…”

Section: Media Crime and Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

School Shootings and the Man-Bites-Dog Criterion of Newsworthiness

Lawrence

Mueller

2003

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

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School shootings have received considerable media attention in recent years. These widely publicized crimes have provoked fear among parents, school staff, and the public at large despite data indicating that school violence has not significantly increased. This article examines the ways in which school shootings are depicted in the media and contrasts these images with official sources of juvenile crime data. The findings indicate that media reports of school shootings lead to grossly distorted perceptions of the potential for victimization. Recommendations are offered to help provide more accurate and balanced coverage of these tragic events

show abstract

“…After crime stories were gathered from newspaper archives, we read the stories line by line and, using SPSS, coded them "on what was portrayed, reported, suggested or implied in the context" (Grabe, 1999). We coded a variety of variables: Date of news story, List of crimes that occurred (e.g.…”

Section: Selection Of National Newspapersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Misrepresentations of Lone Shooters: The Disparate Treatment of Muslim, African American, Hispanic, Asian, and White Perpetrators in the US News Media

Frisby¹

2017

AJC

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The purpose of the present study is to determine how news stories about mass shootings are framed when reporting on a lone shooter. Data obtained revealed specific biases in news stories about mass shootings and perpetrators of color. National print media included in the study were USA Today, the Washington Post, The New York Times, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Los Angeles Times. Data shows that of the N = 170 stories, 75% of the stories involving a white shooter included the word or references to hero while shootings that involved lone shooters of color using the hero was found in 25% of the stories (P < .001). Results from this research are discussed in terms of their implications and significance for future research.

show abstract

Television news magazine crime stories: A functionalist perspective

Cited by 24 publications

References 27 publications

“Fair and Balanced?” Justice Issues on Political Talk Shows

“Fair and Balanced?” Justice Issues on Political Talk Shows

School Shootings and the Man-Bites-Dog Criterion of Newsworthiness

Misrepresentations of Lone Shooters: The Disparate Treatment of Muslim, African American, Hispanic, Asian, and White Perpetrators in the US News Media

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