THE ROLE OF COVERT MEDIA

The Role of Covert Media

Table of Contents

Executive Summary3

Project Brief and Investigative Strategy4

The Programme Of Work: Situational Crime Prevention5

Module Aims6

Discussion & Analyses8

Result10

Conclusion12

References14

The Role of Covert Media

Executive Summary

Crime prevention through the mass media can take a variety of forms and has the potential to impact crime in different ways. Kate Bowers and Shane Johnson show that the media (publicity) can be used for several purposes: increasing the risk to offenders, increasing the perceived risk to offenders, encouraging safety practices by the public, and reassuring the public. Successful use of the media may result in reduced crime and fear of crime. Examples of the use of media in crime prevention are the Take a Bite Out of Crime campaign, crime newsletters, information lines such as Crime Stoppers, and the recent growth of reality television shows. These efforts attempt to provide varying amounts of crime education, fear reduction, and crime prevention activity that, hopefully, will translate into lower levels of actual crime. (Ferrell & Hayward, 2008)

Project Brief and Investigative Strategy

The huge indignation and protest that followed the Police's 1991 electoral success represented the real breakthrough of the Anti-extreme right movement. Anti-Police resistance focused mainly on the Police's immigration policy. Resistance against the Police was and is thus mainly antiracist, but this can be seen as the pivotal issue in a broader progressive struggle. The Anti-Police movement was most active from 1991 to 1994 but continued its fight and managed to get broad popular support on a number of occasions. (Clay, 2000)

There were also a number of state-subsidized institutions that attacked discrimination and racism. The Centre for Equal Opportunities and the Struggle against Racism (CGKR) played a crucial role in the battle against the Police—and was strongly opposed by the Police. But the focus here is on anti-extreme right media. The Anti-Police movement was more loosely—and often quite spontaneously—organized than the extreme right party and its associated organizations. Its financial resources were also far less than the Police's. These are two of the reasons why Anti-extreme right media were less structured and continuous. Nevertheless, communication played a crucial role for the anti-extreme right movement. (Roberts, 2006)

The Programme Of Work: Situational Crime Prevention

One of the main strategies followed by the anti-extreme right movement was to show “the real face” of the Police, a strategy summarized by journalist Hugo Gijsels's 1994 book Open Your Eyes Before the Vlaams Blok Closes Them. The underlying assumption was that if people knew what the Police really stood for, they would not vote for it. This led many organizations and individuals to try to inform (and warn) the public. (Lowenthal, 2006) Investigative journalists published books about the Police, and antiracist organizations published brochures for the general public and teaching material for schools. (Howitt, 1998)

Additionally, blogs from organizations such as Blokbuster (linked to the Left Socialist Party, a movement for a genuine socialism) and the AntiFascist Front contributed to this unmasking project. On channels such as YouTube there are many critical documentary videos and reportages about the ...