Drawing on interviews with journalists, senior police and press officers, this is the first ethnographic study of crime news reporting in the UK for over 25 years. It explores changes over the last 40 years, including the aftermath of the Leveson Report and the breakdown of relations between the Met and the mainstream media.The book argues that new investigative journalism non-profits have been slowly repairing the field of crime journalism and reporting with – and not on – stigmatised communities.Nevertheless, the police continue to control the flow of policing news to the press and the public. Despite the radical transformation of the Fourth Estate, in the case of the police it has never been so restricted in its ability to speak truth to power.
Marianne Colbran is Visiting Research Fellow at the Mannheim Centre for Criminology at the London School of Economics. She was previously a television scriptwriter for the British police show, The Bill.
1. Why Study Crime News?2. The Metropolitan Police 3. Police ‘Control’ and the UK National Press4. The Phone-Hacking Scandal5. The Effect of Digital Platforms on the Police and the Media6. The Rise of the New Investigative Journalism Start-Ups7. The Changing Face of Crime News8. How Does the Fourth Estate Work Now in Crime and Investigative Reporting?
"This book delivers on its promise and will resonate with audiences that have a tradition of policing by consent. Colbran is well situated to respond with research into who makes the opening gambit on an increased reciprocity between police and media producers, and how it plays out." Policing and Society
