Abstract
As with fictional media, youth are often the center of focus in news media related to crime. Much recent news media has focused on issues such as bullying among youth, the alleged increase in female delinquents or juvenile superpredators and new forms of violence among youth. By and large, such claims tend to prove ephemeral, but may influence the ways in which viewers form beliefs about crime. Unlike with fictional media, evidence suggests that news media may have some cultivating effects on viewer’s beliefs about crime, although some individual viewers may be more influenced than others. Issues such as trial by media, missing white girl syndrome (MWGS), and follow-through failure are also discussed.
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Ferguson, C.J. (2013). Adolescents in the News Media. In: Adolescents, Crime, and the Media. Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6741-0_4
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