Surette (1992) defines mass media as “media that are easily, inexpensively, and simultaneously accessible to large segments of a population” (p. 10).
According to Barak (1994), "Media formats include: news background; documentary and docu-drama; realistic fiction such as T.V. soap operas; editorial comments; letters to newspapers; appeals for support; fund-raising efforts and media campaigns on behalf of groups; advertising in the media; and attention to talk shows" (p. 17).
Themes that "receive sympathetic attention are: all kinds of illness and disability; homelessness and poverty; old age; racial and sexual discrimination; and victimization through child abuse and neglect" (p. 17). Others include "drug addiction; juvenile delinquency; conditions of criminalization; and dehumanizing prison conditions" (p. 17-8). Criminologists can use these places of greater sympathy to re-shape the narrative.
According to Killingsworth and Palmer (1992), "News reporters and the purveyors of mass media have an ostensible commitment to a realist, even a positivist, epistemology. They are supposedly devoted to the facts. In principle, their brand of objectivity resembles that of applied science, and hardheaded insistence on maintaining their own perspective against the pressures and intrusions of governmental and corporate powers" (p. 133).
According to Jenkins (2006), "mass media has tended to use its tight control over intellectual property to rein in competing interpretations, resulting in a world where there is one official version" (p. 267).
Convergence culture may may force the media industry to change. According to Jenkins (2006), "A media industry struggling to hold on to its core audience in the face of competition from other media may be forced to take greater risks to accommodate consumer interests" (p. 268).
According to Warnick (2007), "Media content itself was designed to stimulate consumption and was channeled into patterns that had mass appeal; specifically, it exploited events to attract audience attention" (p. 2).
References:
Barak, G. (1994). “Media, society, and criminology.” In G. Barak (Ed.), Media, process, and the social construction of crime: Studies in newsmaking criminology. 3-45. Garland Publishing: New York.