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The Joanna Yeates Case

Proximity and Status

Exception

- the ideal suspect

Hall et al. explains that in a class-based society, typically the poor and those without property are considered "on the wrong side of the law" (p. 189)

HOWEVER

- Jefferies was a well-educated, upper class, white male

- Landlord to multiple properties, lived in a wealthy area of Bristol, teacher

- Yet was still deemed 'different'

Proximity: Compliance of the family to give press releases, family photos and home videos increases the newsworthiness of a story.

Images of Joanna Yeates at her graduation were displayed in the media, accompanied by comments describing her as the 'perfect daughter' with an 'amazing future ahead of her'.

Status: The media's interest in missing persons varies in accordance with their background.

Joanna Yeates was well educated and lived in a 'a beautiful ground floor flat in the upmarket area of Clifton in Bristol'. As a young white middle-class female, Joanna Yeates meets the criteria for the ideal victim making the case extremely newsworthy.

1. The 'other' --> A similarity between phenomenon of 'mugging' and the accusations made against Jefferies

2. Media exaggeration

- Selectivity of content and tone inevitably affects public perception e.g. black community seen as dangerous. Jefferies seen as 'different', 'weird'

3. Reaction to crime

- Reaction to crime can actually instigate a perception of a pattern of crime

- Assumptions with no evidential background: "there appears to be a vigorous reaction to 'mugging'...before there are any actual 'muggings' to react to" (p. 182)

Parallels to Jefferies?

Simplification and Individualism

Graphic imagery

CCTV footage of Joanna purchasing cider at Bargain Booze, was prominent in the media.

Simplification: A story must be reducible to a minimum number of parts/ themes, encouraging the user to suspend skills of critical thinking.

For example the media latched onto the idea that Chrisopher Jefferies was strange, and placed great emphasis on his 'blue rinse' hair cut, ignoring the role of Vincent Tabak in giving the police false information.

Individualism: Suspects are often presented as having a lack of social ties, Chrisopher Jefferies was described by the press as being 'creepy', 'lewd' a 'peeping tom', with 'non-existent friendships'.

Tabak was also presented as an introverted loner.

Joanna Clare Yeates was a landscape architect from Hampshire, England, who went missing on 17 December 2010 in Bristol after an evening out with colleagues. Her body was discovered on 25 December 2010 in Failand, North Somerset. A post-mortem examination determined that she had been strangled.

Jefferies...

The retired public school teacher Christopher Jefferies, also Joanna's landlord, was arrested and questioned for two days after the body of 25-year-old Yeates was found on Christmas Day in 2010.

However Dutch engineer Vincent Tabak, 37, was jailed for life in October 2011 after being convicted of killing Joanna Yeates, at her flat in Clifton, Bristol.

- Despite Jefferies being found not-guilty, the media still continued to portray him as an outsider

e.g. The Independent - 2011 article explaining the payouts given to Jefferies

Hall et al. (2013)

How can we relate the phenomenon of 'mugging' to this case?

Jewkes

2012

Tabak...

- Charged in late January 2011, coverage of the new conviction was largely delayed until Tabak's trail in October 2011

- Overall avoidance of the new convictions, however, those who did provide coverage

chose to portray Tabak in a positive light

e.g. The Independent describes Tabak as a successful University graduate

Comparison to coverage of Jefferies?

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/vilified-by-the-red-tops-joanna-yeates-landlord-wins-six-figure-payout-2328638.html

CONCLUSIONS

Mr Jefferies successfully brought proceedings for defamation, against 8 newspapers.

What was the media's reaction to the new accusations?

Did their attitude change towards Jefferies?

THEORIES

The tabloid press honed in on Jefferies as he fit the criteria for the 'usual suspect' and made a series of false allegations, knowing that the information would be newsworthy.

Facts of the Case

The press portrayed Jefferies to be sexually perverted, and stated that he has been involved in a previous murder as well as being linked to a convicted paedophile, which were all completely false allegations.

In a witness statement Christopher Jefferies described the presses actions as being a 'Witch Hunt'.

The press released a number of photos of Jefferies which made him immediately recognisable by the public.

Galtung and Ruge

Referencing List

Unexpectedness- The most unexpected or rare events among those that are culturally familiar and/or consonant will have the greatest chance of being selected as news.

“People are sheep. Media is the shepherd. ”

--- Jess C. Scott

Threshold- Events have to pass a threshold before being recorded at all. The greater the intensity, the more gruesome the murder, and the more casualties in an accident- The greater the impact on the perception of those responsible for news selection.

The Ideal Victim

The media reported on the state of Joanna's body when it was found 5 days after her disappearance, describing it to be frozen on a snowy roadside.

The BBC news reported that Tabak, the real killer, had shopped in Asda after killing Joanna, with her body in his car.

Joanna suffered 43 injuries, including wounds to her face, throat and arms.

In 1986, criminologist Nils Christie coined the concept of the ‘ideal victim’. This term refers to the characteristics of the victim, the offender, and the circumstances surrounding the crime, which have strong influences on the degree to which society sympathizes with victims and gives them legitimate status as victims.

Continuity- Once a headline has become headline news it remains in the media spotlight for some time- even if its amplitude has been greatly reduced- because it has become familiar and easier to interpret. Continuing coverage also acts to justify the attention an event attracted in the first place.

The role of which media played in this case is similar to Joanna's case:

Fig 1: The King FB (2011) “Why does God call us sheep?”

  • Media reports exaggerate the degree of harm and exaggerates the risk of victimisation
  • News value: biased, continuity, storytelling and negativity
  • Media effect: public moral panic

Left Wing Views

- The Guardian

"Joanna Yeates murder: the full truth may never be known" - Headline

Hoijer, B. (2004). The Discourse of Global Compassion: The Audience and Media Reporting of Human Suffering. Media, Culture and Society, 26 (4), P: 51-531.

Gekoski, Anna, Gray, Jacequeline M., & Adler, Joanna R. (2012) What makes a homicide newsworthy? UK national tabloid newspaper journalist tell all. (Author abstract). British Journal of Criminology, 52(6), 1212-1232.

Freeman, M. (2005). Law and popular culture (Current legal issues Law and popular culture). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hall, S, Critcher et al, (2013) Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hare, R. (1999). Without Conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us. New York ; London: Guildford Press.

Koestse, M. (2017) “Jiang Ge Tokyo Murder Case: Chen Shifeng Sentenced to 20 years in prison” in China Media. Available at:

https://www.whatsonweibo.com/jiang-ge-tokyo-murder-case-chen-shifeng-sentenced-20-years/

(Accessed: 20 December, 2017)

The King FB (2011) “Why does God call us sheep?” [Digital image] [viewed 14 March, 2018]Available from:

http://inhonoroftheking.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/why-does-god-call-us-sheep.html

Wahl, O. (1996). Media Madness: public images of mental illlness (Book Review). Journalism and Mass communication Quarterly, 73(2), 492-493.

Greer, C. (2007), 'News Media, Victims and Crime', in P. Davies, P. Francis and C. Greer, eds, Victims, Crime and Society. London: Sage.

Harcup, T, O'Neill, (2001) ' What is news" galtung and Ruge revisited' Journalism studies, (2.2) pages 261-280

The ideal victim is deemed to be relatable, eliciting a stronger reaction from the general public (Hoijer, 2004). Joanna Yeates was a young white woman and woman are often portrayed to be helpless in violent situations and are consequently perceived as being more suitable 'ideal 'victims.

"To the torment of her loved ones",

Jiang Ge Tokyo Murder Case

Basic story

Link to Hall et al. (2013)

Police and mugging

The victim (A) of the case, who was studying in Japan at the time, was brutally stabbed to death by her friend (D)’s boyfriend(C) whilst the friend in question hid behind closed doors and did nothing. When the incident emerged later, D and D’s mother were reported to have denied any involvement, wrongdoing and responsibility, and expressed no regret or sympathy.

Parallels between Jewkes and Hall et al.'s reading around the phenomenon of 'mugging':

Media's attraction to the 'problematic reality'

- This describes the way that the media is attracted to stories considered unexpected, threatening and disruptive to social order and routine

Explanation

  • In this case, on the one hand, the offender was described as a heinous and brutish monster by the media. The media selectively ignored the fact that he was actively involved in a non-profit organization and was the President of the Student Union of his university. On the other hand, Media portrayed the victim's mother as an object of sympathy, leading the public to donate large sums of money to her. However, in fact, the victim's mother was the owner of a small supermarket, and her financial situation was not as bad as media reported.
  • The media continuously expanded the impact of the case, practically ignoring the privacy of each person who were involved, also used fictional writing to describe the case itself. Its purpose was not to restore the truth of the case, but to engage the audience and keep up the public interest.
  • As the result of media effect and public moral panic, many Chinese parents who had plans to send their children to study over sea had changed their decisions as they became worried about the safety and security of their children.

By Rachel Stanley, Rachael Finlay, Ju Zhou, Chris Mitsinga, Leonie Thompson and Owen Sheehan

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