Scooped!: Media Miss Real Story on Crime While Chasing Sex, Sleaze, and Celebrities

By David J. Krajicek

Book Overview

Scooped surveys the impact of tabloid journalism in America and reveals that crime news and reporting say much about a society fascinated by sleaze and violence. David Krajicek raises important questions about how and why certain crimes are reported, and the ways in which these representations are framing debates concerning crime policy and the criminal justice system. He challenges journalists--in the tabloid, television, and otherwise "respectable" news media--to fulfill their mission to inform, and not inflame, the public.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231102933
• ISBN13: 9780231102933
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Desperately Seeking Scoop!

"Scooped!" refers to the common journalistic practice of rival news institutions to beat the other ones with bigger, not necessarily better, but definitely more spectacular, headlines and stories. It is a well written and easy read, containing much needed and valuable information on the nature of journalism, crime policy and crime reporting in particular. Even though relatively small in size, the book offers many points for discussions, from journalism's moral obligation to step away from the recent tabloidization trend and cover crime in the "right" way instead, to the failure of the U.S. criminal justice policy. If not only for the entertaining anecdotes, it provides useful lecture for rookie journalists or journalism students, because almost all of them will start their career by covering the crime beat, occupying "the bottom of the reporting hierarchy, down near the obituary writers." It is a very provocative piece of writing, challenging newsmakers to take responsibility for their own work.