Call for papers Media and Crime

JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION & CULTURE
Theme: Media and Crime
Editors: José Manuel Paquete de Oliveira and Verónica Policarpo
Issue: Number 14 (Autumn – Winter 2012)
Submission deadline for original articles: 30th April 2012

It is a media cliché to state «crime sells», or «crime boosts audience figures». On the other hand, and irrespective of the generalization that commonly establishes the existence of a causal link between the media (especially as regards the speculative dimension to handling news stories), and the propagation of crime, there have only been the occasional scientific research studies able to actually prove such a correlation. Nevertheless, one assertion may be verifiable: whenever violent crime rises, coverage of such acts fills the pages of many newspapers and television news reports. This thereby constructs a second reality about the social phenomena of violence, across its multiple expressions ranging from acts of domestic physical violence, impacting particularly on women and children, to acts of theft and vandalism displaying signs of rising intensity. Not even the generalised saying reflecting Portuguese public opinion that «Portugal is a country of gentle habits» has softened the blow from this global phenomenon. It should also be added that the prolonged and increasingly aggravated economic and financial crisis with its particular social consequences, experienced on both a national and an international scale, ensure such issues take on even more alarming proportions.

Attentive to and interested in the reflection, study and scientific research on matters of relevance to contemporary society and more specifically to Portuguese society, and specifically focusing on media studies based approaches, Communication & Culture is to dedicate its next issue to this theme.

We would correspondingly call for original articles on the following themes, among others:

 The mediatisation of crime and the individual perceptions of the society they live in.
 Crisis, Media and Crime. To what extent does the way the media report on the financial and economic crisis nurture an increase in deviant behaviours?
 Freedom of information and the respect for the right to the private life of citizens.
 Media revelations of «facts sworn to secrecy» in contrast to the application of justice through the courts.
 The social representation of crime in the media.
 The media as drivers of feelings of fear in the general public.
 The mediatisation of crime as a means of fostering civic and social prevention.
 Images and counter-images of justice in the media.
 Images and counter-images of the police in the media.
 Children as subjects and objects of crime in the media and news reporting.
 Domestic mistreatment and violence in the media.
 Reporting crime as a commercial strategy for differentiation between the different media.
 Information and communication technology based crime in social networks and the digital world.

Article submission:
• All articles meeting the editorial requirements and standards of Comunicação & Cultura are submitted to double blind peer review.
• Articles submitted for publication must be 1.5 spaced throughout and should not exceed the word limit of 40.000 characters, including notes and references, an abstract of 100-150 words and six keywords.
• Please send your article as an email attachment to comunicultura@fch.lisboa.ucp.pt.