An assessment of the role and impact of media on the prevention of crime: the case of the police program of south television

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the role and impact of the South television police program on crime prevention. The mixed method has been used. Three data tools:  questionnaire, content analysis, and in-depth interview were used for data collection. Only urban residents were targeted for the questionnaire and, by random probability sampling, 385 respondents participated. For content analysis, using systematic random sampling technique, 12 programs have been used. For in-depth interview, 10 purposively selected interviewees: the police program producers, legislature experts, and the judicial professionals participated. Findings have shown that the educative role of the STV police program must be more vital in raising awareness of the society against crime. The data results showed that the quality of presentation and format of the STV police program needs to be updated; The findings have also shown that the program does not cover different local crime issues. The results also revealed that the program broadcasts the same crime issue that is about murders and that occurred within family members repeatedly. The findings also indicated that murders that have been committed within family members were covered the most, but their impact on viewers' mind to distance themselves from crime acts is very low and can rather motivate viewers to commit crime due to the law enforcement document used. And also, the findings have shown that the program mainly promotes a specific organization and individuals, which has less role and impact on the prevention of crime. Therefore, the STV police program has great limitations in its educational role and impacts on crime prevention.  Therefore, to equip and educate viewers, the program, in addition to addressing different types of crime, should select issues that have significant law enforcement statements made against criminals. In addition to providing professional trainings to program producers, all concerned bodies should work on the challenges that the STV police program usually faces. Finally, based on the finding of this study, law enforcement individuals and related policy making institutions should thoroughly check and recheck the rules they follow and the statements they make about crime issues regarding the consequences they can have for the prevention of crime generally.