An analysis of crime reporting (and audience perceptions of it) in selected South African media

Abstract

The study on which this article was based was part of an international news study,conducted in 10 countries (Australia, China, Chile, Germany, India, Israel, Jordan, Russia,South Africa and the USA). In this article, the way in which crime as a topic is dealt within selected news media is explored. Focus group results were also analysed to establishhow people perceive crime reporting. Shoemaker’s theory on news values is applied toanalyse media content and results from focus groups. From the analysis, it emergedthat the media perform a surveillance function on behalf of their audiences and thatthe news media apply regular news values to decide on the reporting and presentationof news items dealing with crime events. Media audiences make practical use ofinformation provided by the media on crime events to take precautions or to becomeaware of dangerous situations and people. Shoemaker’s theory also provides a valuableframework according to which news content can be analysed and understood.The data used in this study was collected as part of the What’s News? Project, based atthe S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NewYork, USA, and is part of a larger study of the definition of news in ten countries. Theprincipal investigators are Dr Pamela J. Shoemaker (Syracuse University) and Dr AkibaCohen (Tel Aviv University, Israel). Additional researchers participated in the study fromthe following countries: Australia, China, Chile, India, Israel, Germany, Jordan, Russia,South Africa and the United States. Syracuse University acknowledges the support ofthe John Ben Snow Foundation.