Comparing American and Canadian local television crime stories: a content analysis.

• Author: Dowler, Kenneth

Crime is a staple of local television newscasts. However, there is debate regarding the differences between Canadian and U.S. crime coverage on local television broadcasts. The purpose of this study is to explore differences and similarities between Canadian and U.S. local crime coverage. The results suggest that there is no difference in the type of crimes that are presented on Canadian and U.S. newscasts. However, multivariate analysis reveals that sensational stories, live stories, and stories that report firearms are more likely to appear in U.S. markets. Conversely, national stories and lead stories are more likely to appear in Canadian markets. To provide context, the propaganda model developed in Herman and Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent (1988) is applied. At the local level, American and Canadian news makers engage in selective news construction in an attempt to appease owners or advertisers and uphold traditional attitudes toward criminality and justice.

Dans leur bulletin de nouvelles, les stations de television locales presentent sans cesse des reportages sur la criminalite. Par ailleurs, les differences qui existeraient entre les reportages canadiens et americains sur le crime fait l'objet d'un debat anime. Le present article a donc pour but d'etudier ces differences (ou similitudes). Or, les resultats de cette etude indiquent que les bulletins de nouvelles canadiens et americains n'affichent aucune difference quant a la typologie des crimes presentes. Cependant, une analyse multivariee revele que les reseaux americains presentent un plus grand nombre de reportages sensationnalistes, de reportages en direct et de reportages concernant les armes a feu. D'autre part, un plus grand nombre de reportages d'envergure nationale et de reportages principaux sont diffuses au Canada. L'auteur contextualise ses resultats en appliquant le module de la propagande elabore par Herman et Chomsky dans l'ouvrage intitule Manufacturing Consent (1988). Ainsi, a l'echelle locale, les medias americains et canadiens creent leurs bulletins de nouvelles de facon selective afin d'apaiser les proprietaires et les annonceurs et de vehiculer les attitudes traditionnelles envers la criminalite et la justice.

The cultural identity of many Canadians is structured through a perceived dissimilarity with Americans. Simply put, being a "Canadian" means not being an American. Some Canadians view the "land of opportunity" as a land of poverty, high crime rates, inadequate health care, terrorist threats, and poor race relations. Correspondingly, some media pundits suggest that the Canadian news media are more balanced and more intellectually evolved than U.S. outlets. It is argued that Americans are consumed by fear as a result of increased and prolonged media coverage of "dangerous" street crime. Notwithstanding the fact that the International Crime Victimization Survey (ICVS) reveals that Canadians report higher levels of fear than Americans (Roberts 2001), there has been no research examining the actual differences between presentations of crime on Canadian and U.S. local television newscasts. One purpose of this research, therefore, is to systematically determine the differences and similarities between Canadian and U.S. local television coverage of crime stories.

There is little argument that crime is a staple of news production. Although there are variations across media types and across communities with respect to the amount of coverage that crime receives (Chermak 1994; Liska and Baccaglini 1990), generally crime is regularly disclosed by all popular news media formats (Dominick 1978; Ericson, Baranek, and Chan 1991; Graber 1980; Roshier 1973). Similarly, there is little debate about the portrayal of crime by popular news media outlets. The majority of research confirms that the news media over-represents violent offences and portrays crime in a very sensationalistic manner (Surette 1998). It is rare for stories to examine the causes of crime, the motive for a particular crime, or the effectiveness of the criminal justice system (Graber 1980). Crime stories are more likely to appear in the pre-arrest stage, while crime causation, motives, and outcomes of crime incidents are seldom examined (Dussuyer 1979; Fishman 1981; Graber 1980; Sherizen 1978; Gabor and Weimann 1987; Chermak 1994).

Similarly, crime reporting is criticized for ignoring the relationship between crime and broader social conditions. While news reports associate criminal violence with youth, maleness, and minority group membership, the news media ignore the historical view of how labour markets and related institutions shape employment opportunities and the size and composition of the pool of people vulnerable to arrest (Humphries 1981). Ultimately, the tendency to portray crime as perpetrated mainly by pathological individuals precludes alternative explanations (Humphries 1981). Consequently, crime portrayals are almost based exclusively on individual characteristics rather than on social conditions, and the causes of crime are perceived to be rooted in individual failings rather than social explanations. Deviant behaviour is viewed as an individual choice, while social, economic, or structural explanations are ignored or deemed irrelevant.

While causes of crime are virtually ignored, a number of studies have revealed that crimes of violence are disproportionately presented in the media (Antunes and Hurley 1977; Graber 1980; Sherizen 1978; Gabor and Weimann 1987; Surette 1998). The more serious the crime, the greater the chance it will appear as a news story (Roshier 1973; Ditton and Duffy 1983; Doob 1985; Graber 1980; Sheley and Ashkins 1981; Sherizen 1978; Skogan and Maxfield 1981; Smith 1984; Gabor and Weimann 1987; Randall, Lee-Sammons, and Hagner 1988). Essentially, crimes of violence may be perceived by news makers as more sensationalist, extraordinary, and dramatic, which increases their newsworthiness (Jerin and Fields 1994; Chermak 1994). For example, interviews with news makers reveal that so-called sensationalist crimes containing violence are deemed more newsworthy than regular criminal events (Chermak 1994; Grabosky and Wilson 1989).

There is little argument that media crime reporting does not correspond to the realities of official crime statistics (Garofalo 1981; Roshier 1973). Violent, relatively infrequent crimes such as homicide are emphasized, while property crimes, white-collar offences, and other non-violent crimes are under-reported (Graber 1980; Humphries 1981; Gabor and Weimann 1987; Randall et al. 1988; Skogan and Maxfield 1981; Liska and Baccaglini 1990). In a study comparing television newscasts to newspapers in New Orleans, Sheley and Ashkins (1981: 499) report that 45% of the crimes presented in newspapers involved murder and robbery, compared to about 80% of the reports included in television newscasts. However, Chermak (1995) found that coverage of homicide in television and newspaper mediums is equal: approximately 25% of news space is devoted to murder.

Nevertheless, in cities with high murder rates, the news media focus on the sensational nature of the homicide (Chermak 1994, 1995). Essentially, the newsworthiness of the homicide depends on the actors involved. Homicides that involve multiple victims are more likely to be deemed newsworthy and reported (Chermak 1995; Kumar 1993; Jerin and Fields 1994; Weiss and Chermak 1998; Sorenson, Peterson Manz, and Berk 1998), while homicide involving white (Entman 1992; Johnstone, Hawkins, and Michener 1994; Pritchard 1985) female, and young or elderly victims receive more attention (Pritchard and Hughes 1997; Sorenson et al. 1998).

Theoretical orientation

It has been well documented, then, that the news media provide inaccurate representations of crime and justice. However, broader questions emerge: Why do the news media perpetuate inaccuracies or myths about crime and justice? What is the purpose of transmitting erroneous or misleading crime information? Grabe (1999) argues that crime news is functional because it provides a means to negotiate society's morality by framing simple lines between good and evil. Social solidarity and integration are promoted by societal outrage in response to criminal violations of law and morality. Likewise, Katz (1987) maintains that crime news allows audience members to develop positions on moral questions of a general and personal nature. Conversely, the media may frame crime and crime control in ways that support institutions of power and authority (Fishman 1978; Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke, and Roberts 1978; Gorelick 1989; Humphries 1981; Voumvakis and Ericson 1984). For example, based on a content analysis of crime articles in Time magazine, Barlow, Barlow, and Chiricos (1995) argue that the media provide an inadequate and distorted picture of crime that is based primarily on the conditions of a capitalist political economy. In short, the media distorts the problem of crime in ways that support the interests of the capitalist class (Hall et al. 1978).

In addition, Herman and Chomsky's (1988) propaganda model may offer a cogent understanding of the production of crime news. The propaganda model contends that five filters interact and reinforce each other to determine "news": concentration of ownership/profit motive; advertising as primary income source; reliance on "official" sources; "flak" or negative criticism as a way of controlling the media; and anticommunism, which also acts as a structural control mechanism. Essentially, these filters construct news discourse and afford definitions of newsworthiness. In this sense, news making is equated with propaganda campaigns. However, there are no current studies that expand the propaganda model to the production of local television crime news. The second purpose of this research, therefore, is to apply the propaganda model by examining differences and similarities between Canadian...