Trial by Media

Crime News is an original and agenda-setting book which argues that while news has become a neglected area of criminological research, crime reporting has become an increasingly important factor in shaping knowledge and understanding of crime and justice in contemporary society. Drawing from a diversity of interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical resources, the book systematically analyses key interconnected issues including, newsworthiness, fear of crime, moral panic, penal populism and media justice. Crucially, this analysis is situated within wider socio-cultural, political, economic and moral contexts, and pays close attention to their interaction in 21st century information-communications markets. Crime News thus looks beyond the boundaries of mainstream criminology. It provides the foundations for a new way of exploring and understanding crime news in the global mediasphere.