The televised construction of crime: a content analysis of broadcast, cable, and women's entertainment networks

Thesis (M.A., Sociology)--California State University, Sacramento, 2015.The presentation of crime on television can inform individuals??? comprehension of the world around them. Past research has focused on analyzing specific aspects of crime programming to determine the general depiction of crime on television and the impact those images can have on viewers. The focus of this research is not restricted to audience effects, but rather on the overall depiction of crime on television. This study investigated the portrayal of criminality and victimization in television crime programming and aimed to analyze the uniformity and accuracy of televised images of crime. To determine whether the presentation of crime differed based on the network on which the content aired, crime programming that was featured on broadcast, basic cable, and women???s entertainment networks were analyzed and compared against each other. Then, to address the accuracy of televised crime, data from the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, the National Criminal Victimization Survey, and various non-profit organizations were employed as a means for comparison. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative data to analyze the programming that aired during two non-consecutive weeks in the spring 2011 television season, which included original and syndicated television programs, made-for-television movies, studio films that were edited for television, and reality crime programs. In total, 133 programs were analyzed for the study. The findings discovered distinct differences in the presentation of crime on gendered and non-gendered networks. In addition, analyses determined that the televised content from each network group deviated from recorded rates of criminality and victimization.Sociolog