Citation

Wallace A. Crime Media Culture 2008; 4(3): 395-409.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1741659008096374

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article investigates the construction of place in crime reporting through bystander quotes in recent crime stories in newspapers from the north-eastern US. These quotes are part of a larger pattern of reporting that highlights environmental features of serenity and peacefulness as antidotes to crime. Against claims that crime in the media is always exaggerated, this research demonstrates how the impact of crime is moderated by declaring it unlikely and by discursively shifting it to other geographic locations. It is argued that crime reporting shares a structural similarity with fictional representations of place found in film, and that this pattern of crime reporting helps to reinforce a suburban consumption ethos.