In a pluralist society, criminal justice policy is heavily influenced by public perception of crime and in particular fear of crime. In this unit you will explore the media’s role in constructing an image of crime and critique the ways in which forms of power control this process. You will discuss different representations of crime from the early print news media through to the growth of social media and the rise of ‘fake news’. This unit discusses the forms of media regulation that seek to govern the way truth is presented particularly within news media. You will apply this knowledge by developing an organisational media response to a complex issue.

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from Student feedback

Relevance of learning material to Criminology

Continue to embed content from 'Media Criminology' to capture the intersection of media students and criminological inquiry. Materials should continue to relate to real-world crime events to allow students to connect theory to actual crime events.

Feedback from Student feedback

Consistency of workbook assessment with other CRIM units

Students remarked that the expectations for the workbook task within this course differed from other CRIM courses. In particular, the work limit of responses and the type of activities/questions that students were asked to complete. Consideration should be given to the nature of the workbook assessment in other courses, ensuring the workbook tasks align and do not confuse students regarding expectations. The multiple submission points for the task should also be retained as this appears to contribute to better grade outcomes as students can distribute the workload across the term.