In this study of many mainstream newspapers, Roy Edward Lotz investigates the ample space American papers devote to crime. He also examines the justifications and criticisms this phenomenon has generated. Lotz finds that 30 percent of the front-page stories contain tales of police, courts, and criminals. He concludes that crime reporting neither serves the functions nor has the negative effects that are often attributed to it.
Lotz discusses the functions and dysfunctions of crime reporting, the ideological biases of crime news, and the balance between coverage of explosive events and the less dramatic news of courts and prisons. In the beginning, he analyzes the front pages of four mainstream newspapers: theChicago Tribune, theLos Angeles Times, thePhiladelphia Inquirerand theNew Orleans Times-Picayune. Lotz finds that coverage of courts and prisons has been more thorough and unbiased than expected. This highly readable book is of interest to journalists and specialists in crime, politics, public opinion, and mass communication.
ROY EDWARD LOTZ is Associate Professor of Sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. He is also author of Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice (1985) as well as numerous articles on crime and delinquency.
Foreword
Series Foreword
Justifying Crime News
Crime Over Time
Dysfunctions
Omissions and Distortions
Deviance in the News
Columnists on Crime
Crimes and Criminals
Reporting on the Courts
Reporting Life Behind Bars
The Critics
Selected Bibliography
Index
![Crime And The American Press (media And Society Series) [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/1/2/9/2_784736.jpg "Crime And The American Press (media And Society Series) [Hardcover]")