NCJ Number
99882
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 49 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1985) Pages: 60-68
Date Published
1985
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article examines patterns of media coverage of organized crime and draws public policy implications.
Abstract
For the purposes of the study, organized crime is defined as crime which is organized, continues over long periods of time, and requires corruption and violence for its sustenance. Headlines pertaining to organized crime were examined in four New York City metropolitan newspapers for 1969-79. Abstacts of articles on organized crime were also analyzed for prominent newspapers throughout the Nation for 1976-80. Headlines pertaining to organized crime in major U.S. magazines were obtained from the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature. Newspaper obituaries of organized crime figures were also reviewed. The research indicates that the media's role in reporting on organized crime goes beyond that of a passive observer and reporter of facts to become a shaper of public attitudes toward organized crime. The New York media focus on organized crime more than do media in other areas of the country, suggesting that organized crime is more prevalent in the Northeast. Also, all media reporting on organized crime associate it primarily with persons of Italian ethnicity. Thus, media coverage stigmatizes a region and an ethnic group. Further, because the Northeastern model of organized crime has been posited as the all-inclusive model, other regions of the country are led to believe they have no organized crime problem. The media also tend to present organized crime figures as powerful and sometimes morally sensitive persons, such that the public views them as impressive personalities rather than criminals. 4 tables and 12 footnotes.