I engage with a range of crime media always proceeding with and eye of caution as very few do I perceive as credible. I tend to have the morning and evening news on as background noise, one ear open waiting for something to catch my eye. I also tend to flick through the weekend newspapers browsing for any attention grabbing headlines. Occasionally a headline will catch me eye on my ninemsn homepage or something posted on a friend's Facebook status. Just the other morning in fact I was watching channel 7's Sunrise where the following story was discussed regarding what our prisoners are being fed (in a Victorian prison):
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/-/watch/24339344/feast-behind-bars/
This video is a response to a front page article which appeared in the Herald Sun entitled "Crims' Rich Feast" displaying what I would assume to be misleading pictures of the kinds of meals one might expect to find in a first class restaurant. I doubt very much that these were the actual meals consumed by the prisoners. Officials claim prisoners are fed on an average budget of $8/day so, is it not possible on Christmas, for example, they were fed roast turkey? One day a year hardly equates to luxurious living. One of the social commentators who appeared in the segment went on to slam the idea of prison Masterchef or similar programming ideas. I disagree, in my opinion while offenders are in jail as punishment such initiatives may make them aware that they have other talents - employable talents - and a life of crime is not a necessary means of survival.
The reason I am cautious in my consumption of crime media is that I find much of the reporting to be biased focusing on "short term, visceral, emotional news coverage of discrete events" (Surette 2007, p. 10) especially in popular media which sells by attempting evoking an emotional response. Often the offender is given a bad rap, which they may or may not deserve, but I feel everyone deserves an equal voice and furthermore a chance to redeem themselves which is all the more harder if no one is willing to give them a second chance as their objectivity has been muddied by misrepresented statistics and emotional 'evidence'. So if I do come across a crime, case or person I find intriguing I will look further into it myself. I'll read blogs, true crime novels or biographies all of which are prejudiced one way or another but this way I'm not regarding the first opinion I hear as fact.
Surette, R 2007, Media, Crime and Criminal Justice: Images, Realities and Policies, Thomson Wadsworth, Canada
