ABSTRACT
In recent years the police have taken a proactive strategy in mediating and negotiating their public image in the media in addition to their proactivity in defining crime. The news has become a significant part of the material and ideological realities of police work where crime definition and crime control are central themes. Fast-breaking crime stories remain the staple of the police reporter's beat. Known in the trade as "bang-bang" reporting, crime stories are high interest and stereotyped. Every crime story is a "whodunit." There is always a victim with whom the public can identify, and an alleged perpetrator to be feared or reviled (Powers and Kasinsky, 1993).
