In todays society, there has been a shift in the way modern media portrays crime. Robert Reiner at al studied various media representations such as newspapers, television, fact as well as fiction during the mid1940’s till the early 1990’s. They found that more crime stories were being covered as time went on and eventually the media transitioned to more serious and violent crimes being portrayed on a daily basis. The general population is fascinated with crime, whether this be in the form of crime dramas, novels, documentaries, even ‘reality’ television programs, hence blurring the ‘boundaries between fact, fiction and entertainment’ (Carrabine et al; 2002:129). The most frequently featured crimes in todays news outlets range from Robbery, Fraud, Domestic Violence, Rape and Murder.
In order for a story to be featured in news reporting, it must meet the following criteria; it must be sensational, for example it should suggest themes of violence, risk/fear, suffering, sex, surprise, disaster, scandal, control/punishment. Furthermore it must be a visual spectacle and personalization should be a factor such as having identifiable individuals that provoke ‘human interest’ like stories about celebrities, people of fame and high status, Such stories are followed by millions of viewers as are stories about children; for example the case of Madeline Mccann who disappeared in 2007 that attracted the attention from millions of viewers as well as celebrities such as J.K Rowling who put up large donations in the fund to help find the missing girl (The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 24 Apr. 2008). Along with this a news worth crime should have a good story line, well as composition and proximity.
Robbery is a horrific crime that involves causing either physical or emotional harm to the victims. A very famous and widely televised robbery was the one faced by US reality television star Kim Kardashian West who was bound, gagged and held at gun point while being robbed in a hotel in Paris. West, who is the wife of world famous musician Kanye West, is a media regular, with their whole lives available for viewers to see many fans were interested in hearing the horrendous details of the emotional and physical pain experienced by her. The incident made its way into millions of news articles online and otherwise, tabloid papers, her reality television show as well as may news channels that reported the incident down to a t. A BBC UK article stated her publicist and the police reported that two men dressed as police officers robbed the celebrity at gunpoint. A spokeswoman for the star said she was “badly shaken but physically unharmed”. She was robbed of jewelry costing about 6 million euros as well as her engagement ring that was valued at up to 4 million euros. She was tied up and locked in the bathroom as they made their escape [Kim Kardashian West robbed of millions by Paris gunmen, 3 Oct. 2016].
Fraud is a crime that has recently seen much media speculation. Since the internet, many people have faced becoming victims of fraud. Online bullying, blackmailing and stealing of ones identity has become a major issue in todays society. Due to the easily anonymity of the internet it is often hard for perpetrators to be sought out and punished to the full extent of the law. Knowing this makes it difficult for victims to come out as many feel it will be useless and others feel ashamed that they were foolish enough to fall for such a scam. A popular case of fraud that faced a lot of news coverage in 2016, ‘A Nigerian man behind thousands of online scams around the world has been arrested in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt, Interpol alleges.’ A BBC UK online news article reports. He was the leader of a network of individuals whose scams made up to $60 million. Their scams consisted of hacking into peoples private emails as they learned compromising information and used this to blackmail the victims into paying. “In one case, a target was conned into paying out $15.4 m (£11m),” Interpol said in a statement. Millions of people receive hoax and scam emails every day and most of them are aware enough to realize that they are such. However a few people do unfortunately fall for such devious intents and are forced to pay the price [Online fraud: Top Nigerian scammer arrested, 1 Aug. 2016]. Other popular forms of fraud are banking and ATM related frauds, education, business and investment hoaxes. Crimes such as these are faced everyday by the common man making it a relatable incident by many people who have either faced a situation like this or know someone who has, hence featuring such crimes on news reports make for interesting stories for consumers.
Domestic Violence is one of the most commonly committed crimes around the world, so it is not surprising that stories featuring such a crime are frequently featured in news reporting. A famous cases of domestic violence occurred in 2009, when the famous singer Chris Brown received a lot of media attention after pleading guilty to assaulting his girlfriend and equally famous musician Rihanna. He faced five years of probation along with six months of community service (FindLaw | Legal News & Information, 5 Apr. 2009). Domestic Violence is a crime that usually occurs between family members such as spouses, parents and children and so on. Stories like these are often featured in order to create awareness and inspire other women / victims of domestic violence to identify such behavior as a criminal act and helps give them the courage to open up about the crime and seek the help that they need. However many of the times victim blaming occurs and tabloid newspapers make up or over exaggerate the stories in order to sell papers or improve / increase viewers. A similar case can be seen between Mel Gibson and his significant other at the time, Oksana Grigoreiva (The Huffington Post, 25 May. 2011). Cases like these receive so much public attention that many people see this as a quick way to make money and many celebrity entertainment television shows such as TMZ and many tabloid newspapers such as The Sun use stories like these as a chance to improve their own ratings / sales.
Rape and sexual abuse is a criminal act that has frequently been making headlines in the media. It is commonly committed against women however recently men have also started coming out as victims of sexual abuse.Psychotherapist Duncan Craig came to the startling realization, “I thought, what about boys and men?” he remembers. “There are so many men who have been affected by sexual abuse. But the language is always about women and girls, so they feel completely ignored. They feel like they can’t speak out.”(‘Men and boys get raped too’, 24 Feb. 2014).Rape and sexual abuse is a hard crime to convict a perpetrator for as many victims chose to not come forward due to shame, embarrassment, fear that they will not be believed as well as for the fact that some victims are either related/married to their abusers or work with/for them (Crime and criminology: an introduction, 2012). Yet more recently women have felt empowered by one another. It is seen that if one victim speaks out, it gives other survivors the courage to come out as well. One of the most horrendous case of rape covered heavily by media outlets was that of The Houston gang rapes that occurred in 1993 Houston Texas. 16 year old Elizabeth Pena and 14 year old Jennifer Ertman were the two victims of that fateful night who were attacked while trying to make it home through a shortcut over a railroad bridge. The girls were gang raped and then subsequently brought to their deaths. According to CBS news, five people out of the six convicted were sentenced to death (Worst Rape Cases The World Has Seen, 11 Sept. 2013).
Finally, the most frequently reported criminal act is that of murder. It is one of the most severe crimes that a person can commit against another human being. Society is obsessed with murder. From television shows, to books, to movies, everybody seems to be infatuated by the horror of murder. Many famous serial killers such as Ted Bundy who was responsible for over 30 deaths of young girls, and Jeffery Dammer who murdered and dismembered 17 men and was also a cannibal, had their crimes splashed all over news papers and other media outlets [25 Of The Most Evil Serial Killers You Have Ever Known, 7 Nov. 2016]. Some other famous murder cases such as the OJ Simpson trial where the famous NFL player and actor was accused of the murder of his own wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.The story was so heavily reported about that it became famous enough to recently be turned into a Netflix Television Drama [The 10 best new shows and films on Netflix UK, 3 Feb. 2017]. Murder indices shock, fear and interest in the hearts of viewers. Many do not understand how a person could do such a horrendous act yet they are curious, hence news reporting frequently features such stories as many consumers are very willing to buy the articles.
Hence it can be seen that some of the most popular crimes that we see on television, in news papers, magazines and so on ranger from Robbery, Fraud, Domestic Violence, Rape and finally to Murder. All these crimes have aspects of sensation, are visual spectacles, have some sense of personalization, have a great story line, or include composition and proximity. Hence they are able to gather the interest of viewers and consumers making them more likely to purchase such stories.