Media and crime - forms of interaction and basic theories

Abstract

In the 21st century, it is increasingly difficult for population to manage the flow of information and escape the influence and manipulation of the media. The risks are much higher when the media report on crime. At this point, the media itself can become a motivator for encouraging criminals and committing new crimes. However, the coverage of crime in the media has a wider context, as it includes not only the informational side but also the legal side. When the media provide information about crime, they are fulfilling their main function - they are meeting the public's legitimate demand for information about the criminogenic situation in the country, but on the other hand, the crime and violence reported by the media already contain elements of aggression. This is the peculiarity of crime reporting, which has a hidden and long-lasting effect on society. The topicality of the issue is also determined by the fact that the tendency to report criminal news to a certain extent also illustrate the ideological policy of certain media, which is very polarised in Georgia. In this article we have tried to summarise all the major theories and arguments that media experts and criminologists have developed to describe and evaluate the influence of the media on crime.