Criminologists in the Media presents the results of a cross-national
study examining the structures that shape criminologists' contributions
to news and social media discourse.
Drawing on interviews with criminologists and a survey of 1,211
criminologists working in the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, Ireland, and South Africa, this book represents the first
cross-national study exploring how, why, and to what extent
criminologists working in these countries engage in newsmaking and
digital public criminology. Through examining the predictors of
criminologists appearing in news media, the research presented in this
book demonstrates that newsmaking practices within criminology are not
reflective of equal access, interest, or opportunity. Rather, newsmaking
operates within 'fields of power' shaped by the political economy of
higher education, and researchers' academic rank, gender, and areas of
research expertise. Together, these factors generate several
'situational logics' that predispose criminologists to pursue particular
courses of action in promoting their personal projects. Key among these
logics, Wood, Richards, and Iliadis argue, are a 'social logic'
informing criminologists' moral-political views on newsmaking and an
'industrial logic' responsive to the demands of academic capitalism and
the rise of the 'entrepreneurial' university.
With its focus on the practicalities, challenges, and inequities of
newsmaking in the post-broadcast era, Criminologists in the Media will
appeal to researchers interested in the public role(s) of criminology,
as well as researchers concerned with the challenges of communicating
social scientific knowledge beyond the academy.
