An Assessment of the Role and Impacts of Media on the Prevention of Crime: The Case of the Police Program of the South Television
Keywords:
Crime, Media, Victims, Law Enforcement, Police Program
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the role and impact of the south television police program on crime prevention. The mixed method has been used. Three data tools: questionnaire, content analysis, and in-depth interview were used for the data collection. For the questionnaire, only urban residents were targeted, and 385 respondents participated. For content analysis, 12 programs have been used. For in-depth interview, 10 purposively selected interviewees: the police program producers, legislature experts, and judicial professionals were participated. Findings have shown that the educative role of the STV police program has not been strong enough to raise awareness of the society against crime. The data results showed that the quality of presentation and format of the STV police program is too old; the findings have also shown that the program does not cover all local crime issues. Instead, it repeats a single crime issue many times and promotes a specific organization and individuals. The findings also indicated that murders committed within family members were the most aired type of crime in the STV police program. On the basis of the finding, it can be concluded that the STV police program is a program that has limited role in its educative role for the prevention of crime. Hence, addressing different types of crime, it should focus on crime issues to equip and educate viewers. In addition to providing professional training to program producers, all concerned bodies should work on the challenges facing the STV police program.
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Warr, M. (2000). ‘Fear of crime in the United States: Avenues for research and policy’, in Duffee, D. (ed.). Criminal Justice 2000, Volume 4: Measurement and analysis of crime and justice. Washington D.C: National Institute of Justice
Yamane (1967). Determining the sample size with the possibility of using precision level (variability) of ±3, ±5, ±7 and ±10.
Ziglar, Z. (1999). Something else to smile about .Magna Publishing Co.LTD.
Zillman,D. (2002). Exemplification theory ofmedia influence. In J. Bryant &D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 19–42). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Barille, L. (1984). Television and Attitudes About Crime: Do Heavy Views Distort Criminality and Support Retributive Justice?
Berger, A.A. (2007). Media & society: A critical perspective. New York,: NY: Rowman .
Brillon, Y. (1987). Victimization and Fear among the Elderly. Toronto: Butterworths.
Chiricos, T., Padgett, K., &Gertz, M. (2000).‘Fear, TV news, and the reality of crime’.
Corbin, J., Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach (2nd Ed.).
Cumber batch G and Howitt D (1989) A Measure of Uncertainty: the Effects of the Mass Media. Dahlgren P (1988).What’s the Meaning of This? Viewers’ Plural Sense-Making of TV News.
Eschholz, S., Blackwell, B., Gertz, M. and Chiricos, T. (2002) Race and attitudes toward the police: the effects of watching ‘reality’ police programs. Journal of Criminal Justice 30: 327–341.
Eschholz, S. (2003). Crime on Television—Issues in Criminal Justice. Journal of the Instituted of Justice and International Studies 2, 9–18.
Ferezer A. 2018), Police Television Program Crime Reporting and its Perceived Social and Psychological Effects. MA thesis Addis Ababa Universsity.
Fishman, M. (1978). Crime waves as ideology Social Problems 25: 531–543.
Gerbner G & Gross, L. (1976).Living with television: the violence profile. Journal of communication, 173 - 199.
Gerbner G. (1998) An overview. Mass Communication & Society Cultivation analysis, 175/194.
Grabe ME and Drew DG (2007) Crime cultivation: a comparison across media genres and channels. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 51(1): 147–171.
Greer, C. (2003). Sex crime and the media: Press representations in Northern Ireland. In P. Mason (Ed.), Criminal visions: Media representations of crime. (pp. 90-115). Cullompton, UK: Willan Publishing.
Greer C (2005) Crime and media: understanding the connections. In: Hale C et al. (eds) Criminology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 157–180.
Hall S et al. (1978) Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order. London: Macmillan Press.
Hawkins R. P., & Pingree, S. (1981). Uniform messages and habitual viewing:Unnecessary assumptions in social reality effects. Human Communication Research, 291-301.
Heath L. & Gilbert, K. (1996).Mass Media and Fear of Crime.AmericanBehavioural Scientist 39,379-86
Hester S. (2013). A Sociology of Crime second edition. New York: Routledge.
Hewitt D. K. (1995). Crime and the Media The Postmodern Spectacle. London: Pluto Press.
Holbert RL, Shah DV and Kwak N (2004) Crime-related TV viewing and endorsements of capital punishment and gun ownership.
Howitt D. (2011).'Crime and the public'. In: (ed), Introduction to Forensic and Criminal Psychology. 4th ed. London: Loughborough University. pp. (29-31).
Jackson, J., and Gray, E. (2010).‘Functional fear and public insecurities about crime’. British Journal of Criminology 50(1), 1-22
Jaehing WB, Weaver DH and Fico F (1981) Reporting crime and fearing crime in three communities. Journal of Communication 31(1): 88–96.
Jenkins, P. (1994). Using Murder: The Social Construction of Serial Homicide. Hawthorne, NY: ALawrence, R., & Mueller, D. (2003
Jewkes, Y. (2002). Criminology; A Reader .London : Sage.
Jewkes, Y. (2011). Media & crime.2nd Edition. London: Sage Publications
Laughey D (2007) Key Themes in Media Theory. Maidenhead: Open University Press; New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lazarsfeld PF, Berelson B and Gaudet H (1948) The People’s Choice: How the Voter Makes up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign, 2nd edn. New York: Columbia University Press.
Leishman F., & Mason, P. (2003). Policing and the media: Facts, fictions, and factions. Cullompton, UK: Willan Publishing.
Liska A., &Baccaglini, W. (1990).Feeling safe by comparison: Crime in the newspapers. Social Problems, 37, 360-374.
Katz E and Lazarsfeld PF (1955) Personal Influence: the Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communication. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Klapper JT (1960) The Effects of Mass Communication. New York: Free Press.
Mason P (ed.) (2003) Criminal Visions: Media Representation of Crime and Justice. Cullompton: Willan Publishing.
Mason, P. (2006). Lies, distortion and what doesn't work: Monitoring prison stories in the British media. Crime, Media, Culture, 2(3), 251-267.
Michalowski, R. (1999). What is Crime? Why is Criminology? Northern Arizona University.
Oliver, M.B. & B.G. Armstrong.(1995). Predictors of Viewing and Enjoyment of Reality- Based and Fictional Crime Shows. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly 72(3), 559-570.
O’Keefe GJ and Reid-Nash K (1987) Crime news and real-world blues. Communication Research 14: 147–163.
Perloff, R. (2002). The third person effect. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 489–506). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Perse EM, Ferguson DA and McLeod DM (1994) Cultivation in the newer media environment. Communication Research 21: 79–104.
Potter, W. J. (1988). Perceived reality in television effects research. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 23 - 41.
Potter GW and Kappeler VE (2006) Constructing Crime: Perspectives on Making News and Social Problems. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
Roberts, J. and A. Doob. 1986. “Public Estimates of Recidivism Rates: Consequences of a Criminal Stereotype.†Canadian Journal of Criminology 28:229-241.
Roberts, L., & Indermaur, D. (2005). Social Issues as Media Constructions: The case of 'road rage'. Crime Media Culture, 1(3), 301-321.
Romer D, Jamieson KH and Aday S (2003) Television news and the cultivation of fear of crime. Journal of Communication 53(1): 88–104.
Schramm W et al. (1961) Television in the Lives of Our Children. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Schweitzer NJ and Saks MJ (2007) The CSI effect: popular fiction about forensic science affects the public’s expectations about real forensic science. Jurimetrics 47: 357–364.
Shrum, L. J. (2004). The cognitive processes underlying cultivation effects are a function of whether the judgments are on-line or memory based. communications , 327-344.
Silverman, D ( 2006). Interpretive qualitative data: metods for analyzing talk, text and interaction. Third edition London: Sage publication.
Surette, R. 1998. Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Images and Realities 2nd Edition, New York: Wadsworth Publishing.
Surette, R. (1992). Methodological problems in determining media effects on criminal justice: A review and suggestions for the future [Electronic Version]. Surette, R. (1996). News from nowhere, policy to follow.InShichor, D. &Sechrest, D. (1996). Three strikes and you’re out: Vengeance as public policy (pp. 177-200). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Surette R. (2003). The media, the public, and criminal justice policy Electronic Version. Journal of the Institute of Justice and International Studies, 2, 39-51.
Surette R (2007) Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice.Images and Realities. New York: Wadsworth.
Warr, M. (2000). ‘Fear of crime in the United States: Avenues for research and policy’, in Duffee, D. (ed.). Criminal Justice 2000, Volume 4: Measurement and analysis of crime and justice. Washington D.C: National Institute of Justice
Yamane (1967). Determining the sample size with the possibility of using precision level (variability) of ±3, ±5, ±7 and ±10.
Ziglar, Z. (1999). Something else to smile about .Magna Publishing Co.LTD.
Zillman,D. (2002). Exemplification theory ofmedia influence. In J. Bryant &D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 19–42). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Published
2024-04-07
How to Cite
Ayele, A., & Dinato, M. (2024). An Assessment of the Role and Impacts of Media on the Prevention of Crime: The Case of the Police Program of the South Television. Ethiopian Journal of Language, Culture and Communication, 8(2), 27-54. https://doi.org/10.20372/ejlcc.v8i2.1755
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