ABSTRACT
The media play a critical role in informing citizens about delinquency and violence, and the way they do so has important repercussions for people's perceptions of security concerns and the policies they require. This chapter draws on the existing research literature to examine the general trends in media coverage of public safety issues and their human rights implications. It argues that the prevalence of commercial media, with their reliance on certain news production styles and routines, results in mostly decontextualised news content that distorts the social reality of crime, helps increase audiences' fear of crime, and elicits preferences for punitive strategies. The chapter discusses media depictions of public safety matters, as well as the effects and production process of crime news. It explores alternative approaches to covering violence and criminality before appraising the use of social media. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the possibilities for greater media diversity and more analytical reporting.
