Practice Questions

Short Answer Questions

1. List three standard narratives that the media draws upon to frame female offending

2. According to Jewkes why is male violence more acceptable in our society than female violence?

3. How are African Americans turned into America’s crime ‘bogey-men’?

4. Explain the difference between spatial and cultural proximity

5. List 7 news values

6. Thousands of children go missing each year. Identify key news values which makes one case newsworthy and another not.


View the following clip of Crime Watch UK and answer the following questions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls9SClIkkdQ

7. In what ways does Crime Watch UK (and other similar shows in the US) contribute to increased levels of fear?

8. How does Crime Watch UK blur the boundaries between fact and fiction?

Extended Essays (around 1-2 pages in length)

View the following clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHL6rVQiGVo

1. With respect to key concepts relating to the media and female offending, analyze how this specific case is dealt with by the media.

(Hints: sexual deviance, physical attractiveness, mad cow, differences between male and female offenders referred to, etc)

2. Jewkes claims that conservative ideologies underpin contemporary news values. What effects does this have on the way crime is represented in the news, and what are the consequences for how ‘we’ view the ‘crime problem’? You may draw on a ‘case’ to illustrate your point.

(Hints: think about the ways in which some stories – such as the one on Natalee Holloway, divert attention away from stories involving corporate, elite interests)