1st Edition
Criminologists in the Media A Study of Newsmaking
Criminologists in the Media presents the results of a cross-national study examining the structures that shape criminologists’ contributions to news and social media discourse.
Drawing on interviews with criminologists and a survey of 1,211 criminologists working in the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and South Africa, this book represents the first cross-national study exploring how, why, and to what extent criminologists working in these countries engage in newsmaking and digital public criminology. Through examining the predictors of criminologists appearing in news media, the research presented in this book demonstrates that newsmaking practices within criminology are not reflective of equal access, interest, or opportunity. Rather, newsmaking operates within ‘fields of power’ shaped by the political economy of higher education, and researchers’ academic rank, gender, and areas of research expertise. Together, these factors generate several ‘situational logics’ that predispose criminologists to pursue particular courses of action in promoting their personal projects. Key among these logics, Wood, Richards, and Iliadis argue, are a ‘social logic’ informing criminologists’ moral-political views on newsmaking and an ‘industrial logic’ responsive to the demands of academic capitalism and the rise of the ‘entrepreneurial’ university.
With its focus on the practicalities, challenges, and inequities of newsmaking in the post-broadcast era, Criminologists in the Media will appeal to researchers interested in the public role(s) of criminology, as well as researchers concerned with the challenges of communicating social scientific knowledge beyond the academy.
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: Public criminology: debates and challenges
Chapter 2: Methodology
Chapter 3: Newsmaking criminology in the post-broadcast era
Chapter 4: The situational logics of newsmaking
Chapter 5: Digital public criminology
Conclusion
Index
Biography
Mark A Wood is a Lecturer in Criminology at Deakin University. Most of Mark’s research falls within the sphere of digital criminology and examines how digital technologies shape the way crimes and social harms are enacted, perceived, understood, and responded to. His first book, Antisocial Media: Crime-watching in the Internet Age, was published in 2017.
Imogen Richards is a Lecturer in Criminology at Deakin University and a research fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. Imogen researches in the areas of social, news, and alternative forms of online media. She also writes on the political economy of (counter-)terrorism and the performance of security in response to social crisis. Her first book, Neoliberalism and Neo-jihadism: Propaganda and Finance in Al Qaeda and Islamic State, was published in 2020.
Mary Iliadis is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Deakin University and Co-convenor of the Deakin Research on Violence Against Women Hub. Mary’s research adopts a socio-legal framework to explore, critique and impact the rights and treatment of victims of sexual violence in criminal justice systems. Mary’s research is international in scope and examines the rights and protections afforded to victims in policy and practice across England and Wales, Ireland, and Australia. More broadly, Mary researches prosecutorial discretion and explores how access to justice is negotiated for victims in criminal trials.
"A serious advancement in public criminology. Criminologists in the Media sheds much needed light on why certain kinds of criminologists appear more regularly in the media by identifying and unpacking key factors that considerably influence media engagement ― including the use of social media ― among criminologists and criminal justice scholars. This timely book will be of general interest to readers seeking to learn about media engagement and especially of interest to criminology scholars and students who want to know more about the dynamics that underpin the publicization of research in the media."
- Christopher J. Schneider, Brandon University
"Why do Criminologists engage with news and social media? And what are the dilemmas of such engagements? In Criminologists in the Media the authors expertly dissect these concerns, situating them within the broader social, political and economic imperatives of contemporary academia in a digital age. The result is a compelling and informed analysis of public criminology through the lens of 'newsmaking' and the impact of research within, and for, broader publics. Criminologists in the Media is a critical resource for established and emerging scholars alike, as they reflect on their own public engagements and the impacts of these for academia more widely."
-Anastasia Powell, RMIT University
"Criminologists in the Media is an eye-opening text about the conditions that shape expert commentaries about crime and criminal justice in the media. Relatable and insightful in prose, the book maps wider social changes affecting how criminologists engage with media. The authors skilfully bring together theory and empirical research to advance debates about public criminology specifically and public social science generally. It is a must read for anyone interested in understanding how shifts in academia and the media influence what knowledge becomes publicly accessible."
-Kate Henne, The Australian National University
