Delinquency on the media agenda

Abstract

The influence of the media on the social perception of delinquency has scarcely been the target of empirical research in Spain. There is, however, a widespread belief that the media usually offer a distorted view of the crime rate and that they
increasingly determine the contents of political decisions adopted by the government and legislators on criminal matters. This study focuses on the informative handling of criminal acts that are usually labelled street crime, acts that, because of where and how they are committed, reveal a particular capacity for generating feelings of insecurity among the population. It deals with the intense debate on this kind of delinquency that occurred between May 2001 and May 2003, immediately before the general elections. The debate is documented through the way it was reflected in the El Pais newspaper, one of its major instigators. The hypotheses to be verified are: 1. The special attention paid to delinquency by the media is directly related to the increase in concern about and fear of crime experienced by the man in the street, and with the adoption of a more repressive criminal policy on the part of political agents. 2. There is no correspondence between the evolution of crime rates and changes in the volume of information and the emphasis placed on crime by the media. 3. The media chiefs who lead the debate are not experts on political matters regarding crime, but are certain pressure groups of a singularly corporate type.