Images of crime: Empathic newsworthiness and digital technologies in the production of police news on television in Argentina

Abstract

The topic of crime is related to the growth of violence in contemporary societies and to the increase and transformation of its visibility. This chapter presents some results of a research project on the new modes of production of television crime news in Argentina. More specifically, we explore the creation of content regarding crime in television newscasts, focusing on the ways of accessing the sources, circulation of information, and exhibition strategies. The enquiry involved interviews with news workers and observations in nine channels in Buenos Aires City. We describe the routines in the production of TV crime news in Argentina, the ways of narrating and enunciating crime news on TV, the role played by the police in the structure of the news and the emergence of new sources of information. We outline three main findings. Firstly, we suggest that most of the newscasts on TV give prominence to crime news within their agendas since producers understand this kind of information is attractive for the public. Secondly, we observe that the way crime news is told defines the interpretive frame transmitted to viewers. Finally, we describe how, in recent years, the production and presentation of crime news have changed as a result of the spread of digital technologies as sources of information.