Describe the general relationship between crime rates and news coverage of crime. Then name and describe three important factors that contribute to this relationship.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Over the past few decades, the volume of news coverage of crime has been independent of the crime rate. In other words, we should not assume an increase in crime news is the result of an increase in crime, nor that a drop in crime news reflects a decline in the crime rate.
Yet crime is still a staple of U.S. journalism. Local television news and newspapers consistently report on crime and the courts, and national and online news spends considerable time covering high-profile criminal cases. If the actual occurrence of crime is not the foundation of news coverage, what explains this intensity of coverage? Factors listed will vary, but may include:
(1) journalists' professional routines: journalists know they can expect a steady stream of information from police and the courts, so they can count on crime stories to make the day-to-day work of producing news more manageable;
(2) journalists' perception of public interests: crime is a theme that draws the audiences that commercial and online news organizations need to earn advertising revenue.
(3) news organizations track their competitors, making sure they do not miss important or interesting stories their rivals are covering. The news media in one city or region thus often end up reporting the same stories, reinforcing the significance of a specific theme-such as a crime wave-and further encouraging police sources to supply similar leads.