‘Felonious’ and ‘Vagabonds’: The Media Representation of Criminals in the DF Alerta TV Program

Abstract

‘Felonious’ and ‘Vagabonds’: The Media Representation of Criminals in the DF Alerta TV Program seeks to reflect on the relationship between corporate media and social representations of crime and criminals. Its effects favor the emergence of fear and, therefore, punitive responses by the state and increased pressure on police work. We analyzed an afternoon television newscast of a Brazilian TV channel whose specialty is to report crimes that occurred in the Federal District of Brazil. We found that most of the content deals with violent crimes around the Federal District. The main source of information for the interviews are military police officers; the accused often have the same profile as those traditionally punished by the criminal justice system: young black men.

Keywords
media representation; police culture; crime; social representation; violence