Crime news is an abundant staple of modern media coverage. It is essential that it is handled with care and accuracy to avoid misrepresenting the true magnitude of crimes or causing unnecessary alarm in the public.
In general, crimes reported in the media are less severe than those registered by the police. This is especially true for violent crimes, which are overrepresented in the media compared to their actual numbers. The disproportionate presence of these crimes is most apparent in the crime news reported by commercial television stations, but it can also be seen in public television.
Moreover, the type of crime represented in crime news differs between different television stations. Commercial stations tend to focus on violent crime, whereas public television pays more attention to economic crimes.
It is important to note that crime reporters are sometimes asked to keep stories out of the news. This is usually because the story could compromise ongoing investigations or put people’s lives in danger. While this is not a good reason to stop reporting a crime, it is a sensible precaution to take in these cases.
Despite these issues, the overall picture of crime news is not all that bleak. The emergence of specialised press devoted to this genre, such as the Illustrated Police News, provided an opportunity for more accurate and responsible reporting on specific crime events. As a result, the mystique of particular crimes was weakened (for example in the case of Ronnie Biggs and his Great Train Robbery gang). This in turn diminished the potential of the media to generate moral panics about specific crimes.