A Qualitative study showing how newspapers represent high profile criminals using thematic analysis

Abstract

This paper briefly reviews the research works of Chris Greer on the role of the media and its representation of victims of emotive crime. However, the primary focus of the paper is on the ideal perpetrator Ian Huntley. The paper adopts a social constructionist approach with the aim of assessing and investigating the use of language in various newspaper articles at different times during the Ian Huntley murder inquiry. By using the thematic analysis approach, the paper draws out and identifies themes from coded data, utilizing as a basis, previous guidelines by Braun and Clarke. The leading themes that were identified during the research were sensationalism, fact, the ideal victim, and construction of society and class.A Qualitative study showing how newspapers represent high profile criminals using thematic analysis

Introduction

This paper reviews the Ian Huntley murder and assesses the role of the media in its representation of the case and portrayal of the suspect. Various sources have been used in order to determine how the media represents high profile criminals with the aid of thematic analyses. For instance, the paper provides an overview of the concepts explained by Chris Greer in chapter 2 of the News Media, Victims and Crime.

Greer's work typically revolves around intersecting divisions in society based on race, religion, class, gender and age. Chris offers an authoritative insight into the nature of victimization in the modern society. Apart from this, Chris attempts to explore the social and political context of victimization while also citing comparative, historical and contemporary research on the subject.

Another literature used in this paper is Using thematic analysis in psychology (2006) by Braun and Clarke. This literature discusses how thematic analysis provides a flexible and accessible approach to analysis of qualitative data. The work outlines the purpose and application of thematic analysis and establishes it in relation to various ontological and epistemological positions. Braun and Clarke then define proper guidelines to aid interested individuals in carrying out thematic analysis.

This paper also uses some material from Challenging Psychological Issues by Potter &Wetherell. It cites a range of contingent and frequently occurring problems in the conduct, reporting, design and analysis of qualitative interviews that are conducted during psychological research. Some of the leading psychological issues discussed in the literature that were of particular interest during the study are concepts of interviewer deletion, specificity of analytical observations, and conventions for representing interaction.

By using the extended work of Chris Greer's research on media representation of victims of emotive crime, this paper adopts a social constructionist approach to investigate the use of language in various newspaper articles at different times during the Ian Huntley murder enquiry.Thematic analysis was used was used to draw out themes from coded data using previous guidelines by Braun and Clarke as the basis. The four core themes that were identified during the study are fact, sensationalisation, construction of society and class and the ideal victim.

Relevant material has also been cited from Social Constructionism by Gergen, ...