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Abstract
This paper explores the manner in which prison and prisoners are constructed by the news media and highlights the processes of misinformation and distortion that exist in British crime journalism. These are illustrated through a detailed analysis of four stories which appeared in the British press during October 2005. Using discourse analysis, the paper investigates how these stories construct prisoners as high risk and a danger to society while representing prison as an easy form of punishment. It explores the original official Home Office documents informing the reports, and the sources used by journalists to substantiate their claims. The paper suggests that journalists’ reliance on elite sources heightens the legitimising function of newspapers in supporting the use of prison. It concludes with some broader arguments about the nature of prison reporting and crime journalism, exploring the relationship between print media, public opinion and government policy.
My thanks to Prof. Joe Sim and Prof. Justin Lewis for their useful and insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article.
Notes
1. The Prison Media Monitoring Unit, Cardiff University produces monthly bulletins on media inaccuracy, silence and misrepresentation about the British penal estate. Bulletins are available from March 2006 at www.jc2m.co.uk/pmmu.htm.
3. See http://victimsofcrimetrust.com.
4. Directed by Simon West (1997), the film's narrative concerns a group of high-security, dangerous inmates who take over a prison plane in an escape attempt.It is interesting, however, to note the findings of Atton and Wickenden (Citation2005) who, in their analysis of activist newspaper Schnews, suggest that such alternative media are just as reliant on expertise, authoritativeness and legitimacy as mainstream media and that Schnews's use of “ordinary” citizens was very low.