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Ben-Yehuda, N. (2005). Terror, Media, and Moral Boundaries. Sociology, 46(1-2), 33-53.

The relationship between terror and its presentation in the media is examined. The process of presenting terror is characterized as a method of challenging, negotiating, and redrawing moral boundaries. On the one hand, examining the terror–media relationship in this fashion enables us to transcend issues involved in taking a stand regarding the contents of specific acts of terror. On the other hand, making a stand regarding the nature of terror requires a moral decision. Any such stand regarding the content of terror, in terms of its explanation and justification, is thus based on a moral agenda that can be deciphered from the way it is presented. I use the case of political assassinations and executions to illustrate this terror–media connection through the conceptualization of negotiating moral boundaries.

Questions that apply to this article:

1. How is the process of presenting terror characterized in the media?
2. What are the two modes of terror?
3. How has the rhetoric used by the media in their presentation of terror become a central issue today?

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Biressi, A. & Nunn, H. (2003). Video justice: Crimes of violence in social/media. Space and Culture, 6(3), 276-291.

This article considers the relationship between media culture, surveillance, and the law. It argues that scopic technologies such as closed circuit television (CCTV), together with nonfiction “reality” television and reportage, are helping to produce new intersections between media and social space. This article maps some of these intersections. It also unpacks some of the important ethical and political questions raised by these new formations and their inhabitation. How do these new technologies and genres inform and shape the public’s real and imaginary relationship with the law and its executives? What stories do they tell about crime, fear, and social order? How do they affect the previously established divisions between public and private space?

Questions that apply to this article:

1. What are some of the important ethical and political questions raised by these new technologies?
2. How do these new technologies and genres inform and shape the public’s real and imaginary relationship with the law and its executives?
3. What stories do these new technologies tell about crime, fear, and social order?
4. How do these technologies affect the previously established divisions between public and private space?

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Proctor, J.L., Badzinski, D.M., & Johnson, M. (2002). The Impact of Media on Knowledge and Perceptions of Megan's Law. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 13(4), 356-379. 

Using survey data, this research examines the role of media exposure and attention to media on people’s knowledge and perception of a specific criminal justice policy: Megan’s Law. Overall, the results revealed that general knowledge of Megan’s Law is low. Media exposure and attention increased the level of specific knowledge of Massachusetts community notification law but did not have an effect on knowledge of Megan’s Law in general. Attention to crime in the newspaper was related to both support for Megan’s Law and belief in its effectiveness. The low level of variability in support, however, suggests that community notification is an across-the-board popular policy, even among people with minimal media exposure and who pay little attention to crime in the news.

Questions that apply to this article:

1. What is Megan’s Law?
2. What does the survey data reveal regarding the knowledge of Megan’s Law?
3. How does media exposure affect support for Megan’s Law?
4. Is community notification an across-the-board popular policy, even among people with minimal media exposure and who pay little attention to crime in the news?

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Donovan, K. M. & Klahm IV, C. F. (2015). The role of entertainment media in perceptions of police use of force. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42(12), 1261-1281.

Scholars have long noted the importance of the media in shaping citizens’ attitudes about crime and justice. Most studies have focused on the impact of news and particularly local TV news, yet Americans spend far more time watching entertainment media. We examine the portrayal of police misconduct in crime dramas, and how exposure to these portrayals affects perceptions of the police. We find that viewers of crime dramas are more likely to believe the police are successful at lowering crime, use force only when necessary, and that misconduct does not typically lead to false confessions. In contrast, perceptions regarding the frequency of force are unaffected. Our results add to a growing literature demonstrating the importance of entertainment media for attitudes toward crime and the criminal justice system.

Questions that apply to this article:

1. How does the media inform perceptions of the police?
2. What did the author’s find was the most influential media watched by citizens that impact their views on policing?
3. What differences are found between those who are affected by watching crime dramas, and those who are not?