Crime news discourse in Slovenia: Critical reflection two decades after transition to ‘democracy’

Abstract

This paper reveals the characteristics of crime news discourse in Slovenia two decades after ‘democratic’ changes and secession from Yugoslavia in 1991. We accept the position that freedom of information and consequential right to be informed is a fundamental human right. Therefore we used quantitative and qualitative research methods and analysed the sample of 70 issues of two most widely read payable daily newspapers in Slovenia. Quantitative research reveals difference in report style of two analysed newspapers, though in both cases violent crimes receive the biggest attention among all crime news. Critical discourse analysis discloses that common feature of crime news discourse is focus on extreme cases of deviance. The language, words and word phrases used in the articles and headlines in Slovenske novice are far more emotionally coloured and sensationalistic than in Delo. Crime news of both newspapers includes different elements to create an impression of direct acquaintance with specific crimes (descriptions of proceedings at courts, selection of attractive quotations of judges, prosecutors, police officers, witnesses, victims, selection of specific photographs). Actors given the possibility to speak, design and control the discourse are firstly, journalists and editors, and secondly, representatives of criminal justice institutions. Researchers (criminologists, sociologists) are excluded from crime news discourse. Findings suggest that crime news characteristics in Slovenia are already similar to those reported by researchers in other western industrially developed countries where mass media’s activities are primarily determined by their main goal, i. e., financial profit.