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Functional Punishment
A discursive study of functional punishment-representations in
MetroXpress’ news articles, 2018.
Anja Skov Ljungberg
Media and Communication Studies: Culture, Collaborative Media, and Creative Industries, Master's programme
One-year master thesis 15 ECTS points
Spring semester, 2018 Supervisor: Michael Krona
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Abstract
In this thesis project, the phenomenon of news media representation of punitivism has been researched through a methodology of a socio-semiotic discourse analysis framed within a theoretical structure of Durkheimianism and news value components. Articles concerning MetroXpress’ representation of criminal deviance and punishment were located through a buzzwords search within the newspaper’s online data archives. The search granted a total of 702 word-occurrences appearing in 216 separate news articles. The discourse analysis seperated these articles into the five sub-discourses of “Blurbs”, “Verdicts”, “Spectacle”, “Single Agent Focus” and “Cultural Context”. The distribution of articles pertaining to specific sub-discourses were distributed such that the highest concentration of articles was present in the “Blurbs” discourse, closely followed by “Verdicts”, placing “Single Agent Focus” and “Spectacle” in the middle, while the “Cultural Context” discourse was made up of the fewest articles.
The methodology granted insight into functional punishment and MetroXpress’ representation of criminal deviance, revealing the newspaper’s discourse to be one of situated timeliness which positively promoted judicial-systemic activity. Presenting an anti-Durkheimian conception of deviance in relation to its supposed manifestation in any society, the newspaper presents the phenomenon as defeatable by the judicial system. In this regard, MetroXpress has positioned itself as the mouthpiece of the justice system, in such a manner that they function as a legitimizing force for the punitive system. Beyond the hierarchy of eliteness which permeates the discourse, a normalization of the conception of criminal deviants as dysfunctional obstacles who prohibit organic social cohesiveness is another facet of the discourse. Consequently, a primary focal point within the narratives center on the functional relationship between the deviant individual, systemic representatives and their relation to social cohesiveness.
Keywords: Punishment, Deviance, News values, News discourse, Social Cohesion, Agency,
3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction………..p.5. 2. Literature review………...………...………p.6. 3. Theoretical framework……….…..p.11. 4. Methodology………..…...….…p.17. 5. Ethics………..………....p.23. 6. Five sub-discourses…………..………..………p.24. 6.1. Blurbs..……….………..………….p.26. 6.1.1. Timeliness and Proximity………...…………p.27. 6.1.2. Punitive legitimacy……….……p.27. 6.1.3. Superlativeness, Impact and performative punitivism………..…..p.29. 6.1.4. Eliteness and narrative actors………..p.31. 6.2. Verdicts………..………...…….p.34. 6.2.1. Consonance and the Prevalence Hypothesis………...p.34. 6.2.2. The contradicting rhetoric of deviance normalization………p.37. 6.3. Deviance and Punishment, blurbs and verdicts………...……...….…….…p.38.
6.3.1. Deviancy as societal dysfunctionality……….…p.38. 6.3.2. The three functions of punishment……….…p.40. 6.4. Spectacle………....…..…p.43.
6.4.1. The aesthetics of spectacle………..p.43. 6.4.2. Cultural Proximity………...……p.44. 6.5. Single agent focus………..…..…p.45.
6.5.1. Narratives of emotion………..p.45. 6.5.2. Implicit systemic criticism………..p.46. 6.5.3. Sacralization and inclusive agency structures……….p.47. 6.6. Deviance and Punishment, Spectacle and single agent focus…………..…………....…...…p.48. 6.6.1. Punishment as retribution or restitution?...p.48. 6.6.2. Punishment as social identity………..p.49. 6.6.3. The individuality of deviance……….p.50. 6.7. Cultural context..…..……….………...…….p.51. 7. Concluding discussion………p.53. 8. Literature…………..……….…………..……...p.56. 9. Appendix………..………..……….….…..p.64. 9.1. Buzzword occurrence………..……….…..………….…..p.64.
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List of figures and tables
Table 1.1. News value components……..………..………..…………..p.16.
Table 1.2. Article categorization chart………...………p.22.
Table 1.3. News value component categorization………..…………p.23.
Figure 1.4. Buzzword occurrence………..………...………..…………....p.24.
Figure 1.5. The five strands of discourse…….………..…………..………..p.25.
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1. Introduction
In an ever-changing cultural environment, societal views of punishment, deviance and the representation of these social phenomena exist in flux. The very nature of deviance and its definition is a relative phenomenon amongst cultures and so is the conception of a proper punitive response (Ben-Yehuda, 2006, p. 561-562). In this regard, news media language, or semiotic news discourses, functions as a representation of the world in a textually coded language, a language which reflects a discursive structure of social values and ideals (Mason, 2006, 253-254). The thesis project operates from a conceptual standpoint established by Émile Durkheim. The Durkheimian perspective states that society constructs deviance through measures of symbolic processes with which much simpler phenomena such as “flags” or “football” are similarly constructed. That is to say, punishment and deviance conceptually exist without intrinsic attributes until the process of social labeling has occurred (Simmons, 1965, p. 223). Therefore, an analysis of MetroXpress’ punishment-representations within their news media discourse in a functional context has the capacity to clarify the result of said socio-cultural process of assigning meaning to specific cultural phenomena.
The Danish newspaper MetroXpress has been chosen as the object of study for its popularity and reach. In 2001 the newspaper was established as the very first free newspaper in Denmark to be published on a daily basis (Søllinge, 2017). In its first year of publication MetroXpress was exclusively published in the capital of Copenhagen, but the city of Aarhus soon followed in 2002, and in 2004 the newspaper achieved nation-wide publication (ibid). With a daily stock of approximately 330.000 prints, and close to 500.000 daily readers, the newspaper has established itself as the largest free newspaper publication in Denmark (Jasper, 2016). With such an extensive readership, an analysis thereof offers insight into the specific mode of representations of punishment and deviance that the Danish public frequently faces from their news media outlets. That being said, in June of 2018 MetroXpress was officially closed down as an independent newspaper by its parent company Berlingske Media in order to facilitate a merger with the newspaper Berlingske Tidende (Ibid).
The study aims to uncover and decode semiotic representations of the functionality of punishment as a response to criminal deviance through a socio-semiotic discursive news value analysis. Discursive news value analyses have the capacity to contextualize the newsworthy aspects of news happenings- and actors in a framework of textually constructed semiotic systems of
6 representation (Badnarek, 2016, p. 435-436). Consequently, the analysis seeks to provide answers to the following research questions;
RQ1: How does MetroXpress represent the functionality of punishment?
RQ2: How does MetroXpress characterize the phenomenological nature of criminal deviance?
RQ3: Based on the discursive socio-semiotic news value analysis of the five sub-discourses, what are the primary characteristics of MetroXpress’ news discourse regarding punishment and criminal deviance?
As a result, the study contributes to a methodological tradition of a linguistically explored socio-cultural news media discourse, since the research will capture and explore a specific moment in time in regards to the mode of punishment-representation in a specific Danish news media outlet.
2. Literature review
In the following section, three essential academic explorations of crime representation within the media will be presented. Each individual article functions as an exemplified representational source for the three primary tendencies of theoretical inquiry and mode of methodology utilized within the field of study. The primary discourses fall into three distinct categories of; problem-solving, criminology and demographic representation.
The criminological tradition finds its focus within the exploration of systems of power in relation to the representation of stakeholders within the restorative justice systems. The tradition is characterized by a contextualizing angle which concentrates around evolutionary longitudinal policy-studies. The interplay of exercised power between invested agents represented within the legal texts forms the foundation for insight into normative processes of policymaking. The criminological approach classifies criminal deviance through the law. That is to say, social behavior is determined and defined as deviant if it does not uphold the values of current policies and laws. Therefore the approach bears little sociological insight into the social functionality of punishment as the frame of interest is confined to the processes of law and the enactment thereof. In essence, the tradition underpins a research practice which upholds the law as the ultimate performative space in which representations of implicit and systemized practices of social control are enacted. Giuseppe
7 Maglione’s analysis “Imaging victims, offenders and communities. An investigation into the
representations of the crime stakeholders within restorative justice and their cultural context”
embodies the tradition of criminology and the criminal justice approach to the field of study (Maglione, 2017, p. 22-33). Similar explorations of the field can be found in “Generating
Ambivalence: Media Representations of Canadian Transplant Tourism” by Lindsey McKay and “Constructing the ideal victim in the United States of America’s annual trafficking in persons reports” by Michael Wilson (McKay, 2016, p. 322-341; Wilson, 2016, p. 29-45). The analysis is
concerned with “underlying premises” of restorative justice laws and policies, and the representation of stakeholders within policy documents (Maglione, 2017, p. 23). Methodologically, Maglione approaches his research by exploring the historical context of normative representations. In practice he achieves this through archival research and a comparative and discursive analysis of dominant “descriptions, implicit assumptions and typified images of the ‘victim’, ‘offender’ and
‘community’ within policy documents and legal statutes on restorative justice (RJ), produced in England and Wales between 1985 and 2015” (Ibid). This type of research awards Maglione’s study
with the capacity to draw out patterns of power and influence and uncover implicit normative practices of representation within the policy literature. Furthermore, the methodological approach exemplifies a common tendency within the criminological research tradition.
Eileen E.S Bjornstrom’s “Race and Ethnic Representations of Lawbreakers and Victims in
Crime News: A National Study of Television Coverage” exemplifies the most prevalent mode of
inquiry in regards to media representations of criminal deviance, namely that of demographic representation. These studies focuses on precisely defined social groups, often related to race, class or gender, and examines how that group is represented within the media. Similar explorations of the field can be found in “The Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime
in India” by Lakshmi Iyer and “A Different Lens? How Ethnic Minority Media Cover Crime” by
Aziz Douai (Iyer, 2012, p. 165-193; Douai, 2018, p. 96-121). The demographic tradition inhabits the realm of the quantitative empirical methodology. It seeks to uncover discursive patterns of textual representation, by a data collecting research-process of discursive statistical analysis. The combination of method and research object common in demographic-representational studies results in a research approach which is characterized by the social-constructivist perception of news as normative. That is to say, the general societal framework of understanding is a construct which arises from socially situated inter-communicative interactions. Consequently, media representation therefore has the normative capacity to shape public opinion, and representational value is measured
8 in regards to social impact. From the perspective that “Media representations of crime shape public
opinion”, Bjornstrom sets out to explain patterns of race-ethnic group representations as either
perpetrators or victims in television crime news (Bjornstrom, 2010, p. 274). Through a method of stratified random sampling of television news stories, broadcast in 2002 and 2003, the quantitative-rooted analysis is based on news stories which mention contemporary specific violent crimes. Data is presented as descriptive statistics and focuses on the overrepresentation of specific ethnic groups as offenders and the concurrent underrepresentation of the same group as victims (Bjornstrom, 2010, p. 281-286, 289). Bjornstrom’s study represents the norm within the demographic-representational tradition by showcasing its socially oriented focus on the social power the media exercise by awarding specific demographic groups social roles and governing their agency.
The problem-solving approach to media representation embodies an attempt to illuminate a specific societal issue, and present research data which has the capacity to address the issue in question. Similar to the demographic tradition, the problem-solving tactic utilizes a quantitative longitudinal methodology and problematizes media texts as normative and functional. This means that research conducted from this theoretical perspective attempts to provide a functional explanation of the social reality which they perceive media representation has the ability to construct. Anna Di Ronco’s research article ”Changing representations of organized crime in the
Italian press” from 2018, demonstrates the tradition of problem-solving as an approach to the study
of representation of criminal deviance within the media. In her article she aims “to inspect the ways
in which the press has represented the threats posed by organized crime over time” (Ronco, 2018,
p. 1). She suggests that the phenomenon of organized crime has seen its normative manifestation in the media discourse in both Italy and around the world. The media discourse is observed to continuously construct a definition of organized crime which equates it to a prevalent image of
“ethnically homogeneous criminal groups” (Ronco, 2018, p. 4). These recurring narratives function
as mediums which seek to establish organized crime as a dominant subculture, and thereby Ronco pinpoints the socio-functional power media representations possess. Methodologically, the field of study is approached through a comparative longitudinal analysis of public perceptions, which results in an extensive descriptive statistical analysis. This methodology is common within the particular field of study and can be seen in similar studies by Grant Hannis and Victoria Ellen Collins, respectively, “A Comparative Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Californian and New
Zealand Newspaper Representations of Chinese Gold Miners” and “The State of Coverage: The Media’s Representation of International Issues and State Crime” (Hannis, 2011, p. 248-273;
9 Collins, 2011, p. 5-21). The quantitative empirical data in Ronco’s study was extracted from the news collection database Lexis Nexis Acade through a key-word search. However, it is important to note that the utilization of aggregate news databases proposes a flaw in the final data output. The database archives constitute an amalgamation of a wide range of news outlets, but the researcher is not in control of the extent of the archive’s reach. For instance, Ronco points to the fact that the exclusion of some major newspapers with a high circulation within the public limits the representational value of the sample statistics. That being said, the problem-solving tradition is more commonly associated with the method of purposive sampling which provides the researcher with additional control in regards to the scope of their research object.
Within these three overarching traditions, the selected academic sources, which form the foundation for this thesis project’s exploration of media coverage of punishment- and deviance representations in news media articles, has formed a distinct academic character. Generally, the literature falls into a tradition of socio-functionalism and promotes an academic distance from the subject of criminology. The academic distancing is derived from the perception that “criminology is
focused primarily on behaviors that violate laws” and therefore counteract a sociologically oriented
research project (Ben-Yehuda, 2006, p. 560). Thematically, the chosen source material can be condensed into six primary problematized themes; the ethics of crime and punishment, the socio-functionality of punishment, consequentialism, the contextual sociology of deviance, populistic media discourses and Émile Durkheim’s perspective on punishment. That is to say, the materiel showcases a tendency to revolve around sociological explorations of a wide range of case-oriented media texts and the discourse in which they are performed.
As opposed to the fairly homogenous thematic of the various sources, the methodology does provide some deviations from the primary tendency which is present in the material. The methodology of the majority of the literature is based on the utilization of quantitatively processed interviews, discourse analyses and questionnaires with the purpose to produce empirical statistical data on the occurrence of specific modes of representation (Simmons, 1965, p. 223-232; Bednarek, 2014, p. 135-158). Deviations from this trend present themselves in the form of three different methodological approaches; the examination of a theory, hypothesis testing and theoretical time-series analysis. Mark Cooney and Callie Harbin Burt explore the prevalence hypothesis in “Less
Crime, More Punishment” (Cooney, 2008, p. 491-527). Similarly, Richard A. Hilbert and Allan E.
10 nature of society’s reaction to criminal deviance (Hilbert, 1989, p. 242-250; Liska, 1991, p. 1441-1463). These three academic articles are examples of close reading which is “a form of qualitative
analysis […] suitable for research, which aims to criticize, comment or renew the already existing theories or models” (University of Jyväskylän, 2010). A theoretical time-series analysis is presented by Steven Spitzer in his research article on Émile Durkheim’s theory of penal evolution. The approach enhances the element of temporality in regards to the research object and enables the researcher “to make conclusions on the background factors of the temporal changes of phenomena” (ibid). As a result, the majority of the methodologies are operationalized within an overarching research perspective of functionalism, constructivism and a consistent sociological focus, while the methodological variations provide the project with analytical complexity since research philosophies of both hermeneutic interpretivism and positivism are represented, albeit a slight overrepresentation of empirical interpretivism can be detected. That is to say, the thesis project’s source materials operate within a fairly consistent paradigm of predominant empiricism, mixed method analysis and sociological interpretivism, which thereby influence the academic scope of the project.
This thesis project’s contribution to the academic field of media representation and criminal deviance presents itself in the form a fusion of the three primary research traditions. The analysis goes beyond a demographic focus and instead examines the socio-semiotic discursive qualities of the problematized research object, which in this case is MetroXpress’ news articles concerning criminal deviance and punishment. Meanwhile the project operates with a similar aim as the demographic tradition as it seeks to uncover discursive patterns of textual representation. Methodologically the thesis project employs a similar approach to the extraction of empirical news data as is present in the problem-solving approach. News articles are located through a straightforward buzzword search inspired by the tradition, and the incorporation of some quantitative descriptive statistics similarly mirror the problem-solving research approach. That being said, the choice of a single newspaper as the research object eliminates the uncertainty which surrounds the utilization of aggregate news databases, which has otherwise been the prevalent mode of method within the problem-solving tradition. Inspired by the criminological tradition, the discourse analysis incorporates the focus on normativity and positions of power constructed within the media texts. Furthermore, within a socio-functional framework, I apply specific theories in regards to the discourse analysis and the discussion about the nature of deviance and punishment. This theoretical layer in combination with an extensive socio-semiotic discursive analysis is rarely
11 attempted within any of the three traditions. Finally, the research will be presented in a Danish perspective, which hitherto has proven to be exceptionally underrepresented within the literature, with no academic articles attempting research similar to that of this study. Thus, inspired by traditional research traditions, the project will showcase an original amalgamated angle of inquiry, both in terms of research tradition and methodology, but also in the presentation of a single case study within a Danish national perspective.
3. Theoretical framework
Discursive news media representations of crime, punishment and social deviance exists within a broader theoretical discussion of the treatment and social functionality of punishment. Sociologist Émile Durkheim’s observations on social stability, punishment and the sacred interdependent societal subjects will form the theoretical framework of the analysis. The theoretical insights will be employed to uncover discursive embedded networks of power, representation and social values in news media practices, while placing the research into a discussion of the function of punishment in modern society. In a literary context, the theoretical Durkheimian approach is primarily based on select chapters from “Readings From Emile Durkheim”, “Megan's Law and Durkheim’s
Perspective of Punishment: Retribution, Rehabilitation or Both?” by Tanni Chaudhuri, and Émile
Durkheim’s own “Two Laws of Penal Evolution”, combined with a number of derivative interpretational academic articles.
Whereas a Durkheimian conception of social deviance forms the basis for the core analysis in this thesis project, subsequent topical discussion of punishment draws on contextual articles written about crime and punishment, analyzed from the perspectives of complimentary academic traditions. A representational problematization of what, sociologically, is deemed criminal and deviant behavior is guaranteed to touch upon the study of criminology. In contrast to the sociological study of deviance, a methodology founded in criminology is focused on the violations of laws, and often deals in quantitative research techniques (Ben-Yehuda, 2006, p. 566). Although, my analytical focus takes a step back from the focus on laws and the legality of deviant behavior, the criminologist perspective provides the project with a general understanding of the systems that surround societal perceptions of deviance and punitivism. Simultaneously, a dominant functionalist tradition which permeates the chosen sociologically oriented literature, especially present in the
12 article “Functions of Crime: A Paradoxical Process” by Allen E. Liska and Barbara D. Warner, carries through into my own analysis.My research targets the Danish newspaper MetroXpress and its particular discursive representation of the functionality of punishment, and therefore, inevitably, prompts a functionalist approach. In relation to the theoretical foundation, a functionalist angle affords valuable insight into Durkheim’s theory of social order. Émile Durkheim recognized society as a single organism encompassing all of its individual members. He observed that this societal organism incited functional interdependence and produced a sense of organic cohesive solidarity, and it is these theoretical considerations that will further my representational analysis (Lehmann, 1995, p. 909).
All in all, it can be said that the thesis project operates within a theoretical framework of functionalist Durkheimianism. Émile Durkheim’s theoretical position on social deviance and functional crime is distilled from his numerous influential writings. In the following section, I proceed to describe my understanding of the Durkheimian theory of deviance and functional crime, which will be theoretically operationalized in the forthcoming analysis.
The Durkheimian theory of criminal deviance proposes three primary suppositions; the culturally relative nature of deviance, the societal ‘normalcy’ of deviance and the social cohesive functionality of deviance. First of all, the theory suggests that social conceptions of deviance are relative to the society in which they exist. That is to say, definitions of deviance will expand or contract in relation to the frequency of occurrence of deviant behavior, and societal norms will adjust hereafter (Cooney, 2008, p. 491). Society will continuously recognize and regulate against extreme behavior, which means that “Crime cannot therefore be eliminated since, whatever
behavior is eliminated, something would still be the "outermost" extreme” (Hilbert, 1989, p. 243).
Cultural relativity, in terms of differential interpretations, practices, beliefs, and norms, contribute to the fluidity of the concept of criminal and social deviance (Ben-Yehuda, 2006, p. 562). In a Durkheimian perspective this relative phenomenological state of perceptions solidifies the fact that socio-cultural relativity is more than simply differential sets of divergent value systems, and to limit it as such would produce artificial boundaries for constructive social research (Ben-Yehuda, 2006, p. 561-562). Furthermore, Durkheim’s theory denounces a static analytical and conceptualized interpretation of deviance grounded in the conviction that temporal and contextual considerations must be taken into account. Any analysis of deviance in a specific society must be understood as a
13 snapshot of its specific time and contextual socio-political circumstances. In summary, because society is constantly changing so are perceptions of deviance.
The second analytically significant feature of Durkehim’s theory of deviance comes in the form of his insistence that deviance and crime, often used interchangeably, is a normal feature of society. The social normality of crime lies within the phenomenon’s universality, its inherence to conditions of collective existence and the fact that a complete obliteration of crime would suggest a society founded on unconditional moral conformity (Durkheim, 2004, p. 34-37; Tiryakian, 1964, p. 261). Durkheim even goes as far as to denounce crime as a pathological property, and instead showcases it as a feature of society which has the preventive capacity to inhibit anomie (Hilbert, 1989, p. 242). Durkheim likewise suggested that crime is a phenomenon arising from “the way in
which society self-regulates”, and thereby function as a healthy protective practice in terms of
protecting society “against the withering away of the collective conscience” (Hilbert, 1989, p. 243). It is in this regards that the Durkheimian understanding of the functionality of crime comes into play.
Within the functionalist argument for crime and punishment resides the concept of a societal collective consciousness. In its essence, the functionalist position argues that crime has the capacity to maintain social order, for the reason that society’s reaction to deviance facilitates an interdependent communal and moral strengthening (Chaudhuri, 2017, p. 65; Liska, 1991, p. 1442). Therefore, crime enables and maintains social control and stability through continuous systems of feedback. This system of feedback is presented as performative social reactions to deviance in the form of explicit and implicit measures of punishment (Chaudhuri, 2017, p. 66-67). Durkheim elaborated on his functionalist understanding of crime and punishment by asserting his perspective on a modern society characterized by organic solidarity. Organic solidarity is to be understood as a societal state where “differentiated, specialized individuals are integrated with each other and
regulated by each other” (Lehmann, 1995, p. 909). This interpersonal integration can be interpreted as cooperative collectivism in the sense that specialized individuals each function as vital cogs in the machinery of society. Resulting from this interdependent societal functionality, comes absolute social reliance and, as a product thereof, organic solidarity. Derived directly from the notion of organic solidarity is the social function of punishment. Similarly to the function of crime, the sociological function of punitive measures can be located in its reinforcement- and affirmation of society’s collective normative solidary values. That is to say, punishment is dealt on the grounds
14 that the criminal act constitutes an offense to the societal collective conscience of morality (Carvalho, 2018, p. 220-222; DiCristina, 2000, p. 493-494; Durkheim, 2004, p. 34-37). All in all, penal justice manifests a system of social constraint in such a manner that it informs which type of social conduct is deemed deviant and a threat to social cohesion.
This interpretation of the Durkheimian theoretical measures provide the framework for my discursive methodological approach to MetroXpress’ conceptual representation of criminal deviance and punishment, and furthermore function as the theoretical tool to uncover the newspapers’ specific concepts of the social functionality of deviance, crime and punishment. In continuation hereof Monika Bednarek and Helen Caple’s observations of news values will be operationalized as a discursive tool of analysis. Furthermore, Norman Fairclough’s theoretical insights into media and language, presented in his book Media Discourse, form the foundation for the version of discourse analysis employed in this thesis project.
At the core of this textual representational news media study is a discourse analysis of MetroXpress’ news articles. Norman Fairclough identifies discourse as such; “Discourses are, as I
have indicated, constructions or significations of some domain of social practice from a particular perspective” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 94). In this case, the domain of social practice pertains to a
particular set of textually performed news media practices constructed within the Danish newspaper’s news section, while the perspective it is analyzed through is deviance-representation. Furthermore, in relation to the study of media discourses, Norman Fairclough proposes eight analytical criteria which are to be considered. With a focus on the representational value of MetroXpress’ news articles the discourse analysis is operationalized with a determined focus on textual functionality and implicit value systems. The nature of the discourse analysis is textually oriented since the thesis project seeks to uncover representations of a specific topic within a specific newspaper’s news articles, and not the effects and consequences of said representation. That is to say, some of Fairclough’s criteria are of limited relevance to this study as they refer to the examination of societal impact and influence of news media practices. Contextualized sociological influence will be discussed in relation to a broader discussion of the social functionality of crime, but will not be present in the primary analysis of representational discourse. In the following paragraph the desiderata, which are of relevance to my study of representational discourse, will be clarified.
15 As a starting point, Norman Fairclough notes that the “analysis of media texts should include
detailed attention to language and ‘texture’ […]” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 94). The study of the
construction of meaningful communication finds its fundament in the discursive use of language. This means that this fairly straightforward suggestion of analytical textual attention goes hand in hand with the semiotic emphasis that will be present in the analysis. Similarly, Fairclough announces that “Text analysis should include both linguistic analysis and intertextual analysis in
terms of genres and discourses” (Ibid). In this regard, he goes on to explain that it is paramount to understand that texts are often the product of multiple discursive currents and trend of genre, and that these hybrid features manifest themselves in the final textual product. To look for a singular homogenous discourse to represent the textual output of MetroXpress’ discursive practices would therefore be amiss. One should instead seek to locate the different currents that make up the overall hybrid-discourse which is present in all the writings in the newspaper’s news articles. In relation hereto, the analysis will also emphasize the functional representation of the subject matter of deviance. Fairclough then proceeds to his reflections on linguistics within the discourse analysis and states; “Linguistic analysis of texts should be conceived multifunctionally, and be oriented towards
representation and the constitution of relations and identities as simultaneous processes in texts, and the important relationships between them” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 32-34). With this
recommendation, Fairclough pinpoints the fact that a textual discursive analysis has the ability to, and should seek to, unearth constructed relational networks and processes from a representational perspective. These analytical concerns will be put into effect in the analysis in combination with an analytical focus from the perspective of news values.
A theoretical semiotic focus on news media discourse will be employed in order to uncover how MetroXpress establishes a meaningful communicative news practice. This practice will be uncovered through the aforementioned discourse analysis in combination with an examination of implicit news values. News values are to be understood as a set of criteria or a systemized selection process that influences news production. While many studies of news values are concerned with the news selection processes itself and places the journalistic news room as the object of analysis, this thesis study will focus on the news values which are embedded within MetroXpress’ news discourse. In the article “Rethinking news values: What a discursive approach can tell us about the
construction of news discourse and news photography”, Monika Bednarek and Helen Caple
propose ten individual components of inquiry with which to uncover implicit news values in media texts; negativity, timeliness, proximity, superlativeness, eliteness, impact, novelty, personalization,
16 consonance and aesthetic appeal (Bednarek, 2016, p. 438-440). Based on my interpretation of a similar table included in the article, table 1.1 illustrates a descriptive overview of each news value component tailored to fit this project (see table 1.1. below) (Bednarek, 2016, p. 439).
News value proponent Description
1. Negativity News stories which are negative in nature, and portray the negative features of a particular event or issue.
2. Timeliness A news story which is observed to adhere to a sense of time; the relevance of a reported event in regards to time.
3. Proximity The geographical-cultural proximity of news events.
4. Superlativeness A news event’s macro-perspective properties, that is to say, the particular scope and reach of the issue. 5. Eliteness The superior status of independent actors awarded
agency involved in a news item, be it singular individual persons, organizations or even countries.
6. Impact Impact refers to the significance of a reported news
event in relation to consequences and effects.
7. Novelty An event or issue which strays from a predictable narrative. The incorporation of something new and irregular.
8. Personalization The personal face of an event also referred to as the ‘single agent focus’ in the forthcoming analysis. Emphasis is placed on a singular human insight into a news event, this includes eyewitness reports. 9. Consonance In contrast to ‘novelty’, consonance indicates the
adherence to familiar tropes, and a stereotypical narrative.
10. Aesthetic appeal Aesthetic appeal, or ‘spectacle’ as it will also be referred to in this thesis project, denotes
17 aesthetically oriented aspect of news events. Since the analysis does not include a study of visual journalism, the news value component will instead refer to news stories that are constructed with spectacle as a point of attraction.
Table 1.1 News value components
The ten news value components act as a catalyzer for the analysis to go beyond news organizations’ official codes of ethics in the terms of ”accuracy, fairness and balance” and similarly the journalistic principles of “storytelling, along with the basics of sound grammar,
spelling and punctuation […]” (Bednarek, 2016, p. 438). A news value approach to the Danish
newspaper’s discourse grants the analysis the opportunity to unearth persistent tendencies in regards to the “‘newsworthy’ aspects of actors, happenings and issues […]” (Ibid). Thereby, news value conventionalities and traditions contribute to the overall socio-semiotic news discourse present in MetroXpress’ news articles.
4. Methodology
The theoretical field of media discourse is made up of a plethora of fairly distinct types of discourse analysis as proposed by Norman Fairclough in his book “Media Discourse”. Overall, Fairclough assigns the discursive analysis of media output with the ability to illuminate three different sets of questions; How is the world represented?, What identities are set up for those
involved in the story? and What relationships are set up between those involved? (Fairclough, 1995,
p. 5). Fairclough also describes the basis of media discourse as having a theoretical duality. Two primary strands of media discourse diverge into two separate brands of analysis. One is rooted in language studies, with an analytical focus on interaction and social situations, while the other finds its focus in post-structural social theory which centers on a social construction of reality (Fairclough, 1995, p. 18-19). Within this overarching framework, several approaches to the analysis of media discourse present themselves. The six types are as follows; linguistic and sociolinguistic analysis, conversation analysis, semiotic analysis, critical linguistics, social-cognitive analysis and cultural-generic analysis (Fairclough, 1995, p. 20). In the following paragraphs, I will clarify the
18 different modes of analysis each type of discourse analysis possess, and similarly highlight their individual strengths and limitations in relation to the analysis I undertake in this thesis project.
Conversation analysis diverges from the textual focus, and instead places emphasis on everyday life and the methods which are used in its production. This type of analysis is termed ethnomethodology and is a sociologically rooted analysis of everyday spoken interactions. Granting insight into spoken informal conversation between equals, and existing without the direct interaction with a media component, the analysis is not traditionally deemed suitable for a textual media analysis (Fairclough, 1995, p. 21-23). Another type of discourse analysis, which is not entirely suitable for a textual representational study, is the critical linguistics analysis. This type of method locates expressions of a broader pre-existing societal discourse within media outlets. Critical linguists highlight the role of vocabulary choices in regards to the representation of pre-existing socio-cultural categories (Fairclough, 1995, p. 27). More specifically, the object of study is the societal categorization’s influence on media text rather than the media text’s representation’s influence on society. This type of analysis is therefore best suited for a comparative study between pre-established dichotomized social categories such as gender or ethnicity.
The social-cognitive model of discourse analysis concerns itself with the practice of news production- and comprehension. Diverging from a sociological approach, the method instead attempts a socio-psychological analysis. Processes of social cognition are proposed as the bearing analytical pillar which shape media production and comprehension (Fairclough, 1995, p. 28-30). Consequently, such a study would uncover psychological processes of influence in regards to the potentially textual product of said media process. For this reason the method’s implementation of socio-psychological causality-studies of media production would not provide the required insight into a representational and textual snapshot of MetroXpress’ news discourse regarding punishment and criminal deviance. Cultural-generic discourse analysis refers to the practice of exploring the evolution of interview- or ‘chatting’-practices. The method focuses on structured communicative narratives in media culture as the primary object of analysis, in order to explore cultural and temporal differentiations in broadcast media (Fairclough, 1995, p. 31-32). Highlighting technical discovery and its effects on the broadcast media landscape, the method lends itself to audience reception studies and the interactive field between public versus private spheres regarding media audiences. Exploring a non-textual media sphere, which regards the listening practices and technical
19 circumstances in which media exist, the cultural-generic discourse analysis cannot grant specific insight into functional punishment-representations in a newspaper media.
Fairclough underlines the paramount importance of being aware of one’s own choice of discourse analysis, since the type of discursive analytical lens utilized will necessarily grant different results regardless of the researched object (Fairclough, 1995, p. 94). In my research, I operationalize an amalgamation of the socio-linguistic and the semiotic discursive tradition (henceforth referred to as the socio-semiotic discourse analysis). Linguistic and sociolinguistic analyses are both characterized by a heavy textual focus. Where a purely linguistic analysis is undertaken for the sake of proving syntactical grammatical structures and intonations of language, the sociolinguistic model is grounded in the illumination of socio-cultural patterns in textual news media (Fairclough, 1995, p. 21). The premise of this discourse is that language shapes our perception of reality and therefore placing it as the object of analysis grants insight into connections between socio-cultural representation and linguistic expression. The semiotic method also treats the textual analysis as a key component of a socio-cultural analysis of media. The method regards the analysis of text as a highly important part of any sociocultural analysis of media because it links “properties of texts to ideologies, power relations and cultural values” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 24-25). That is to say, this type of textual discourse analysis explores value-based usage of language and seeks comprehension on how linguistic choices are implicit expressions of editorial values. The linguistic discourse comes into play in my research when I seek to connect the structured news value components to the linguistic choices undertaken within MetroXpress’ news articles concerning punishment and criminal deviance. Furthermore, the same type of discourse analysis is implemented in my analysis of the linguistic word choices which I perceive to express biased characterizations of punishment and criminal deviance as expressions of specific socio-cultural editorial patterns. Finally, I wish to point out that the chosen methodology is operationalized from an overarching social constructivist position. This position assumes that reality is shaped through language, and more specifically, that any phenomenon is necessarily a product of social processes and human interests. Furthermore, the paradigm applies historicity to all analyzed phenomena as they are believed to possess no inherent eternal quality, but are to be understood as temporal and socially contingent constructions (Collin, 2011, p. 248-250).
With these considerations in mind, the socio-semiotic discourse analysis presents my research with a number of strengths and limitations. In terms of strengths, the socio-semiotic discourse
20 analysis provides my research with two prominent points. First of all, I follow Fairclough’s working assumption that “any part of any text […] will be simultaneously representing, setting up identities,
and setting up relations”, and in doing so linguistic scrutiny serves my analysis well (Fairclough,
1995, p. 5). The linguistic angle which the method provides allows for this very scrutiny of the properties of media language. For instance, when seeking evidence for the symbolic processes with which the phenomena of punishment as a response to criminal deviance is constructed, I conduct an in-depth analysis of the linguistic choices employed and the values which they represent. Along similar lines, this type of discursive language analysis “can help anchor social and cultural
research and analysis in a detailed understanding of the nature of media output” (Fairclough,
1995, p. 16). What is meant by that is, the basic premise of socio-semiotics is “that coding events in
language entails choices” which specific expressions of language structures “make available, and that such choices are […] ideologically significant” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 25). The analysis of
media language is therefore a tangible expression of underlying socially and culturally motivated choices, which the socio-semiotic discourse analysis can bring into light. Researching how MetroXpress implement specific modes of language use, consequently grants awareness of underlying socio-cultural inspirations, which in turns speaks to the newspapers representation-ideology.’
The chosen methodology’s limitations present themselves as two interconnected points of contention; undue emphasis on text and lack of a greater contextualization of audience reception studies. Some media analysts object to those who approach media from a purely linguistic textual angle. This contention stems from the fact that “Media reception research has suggested that texts
do not have unitary meanings, but are quite variously interpreted by different audiences and audience members, and may be quite various in their effects” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 16). The point
being that the disregard of audience reception studies in favor of textuality will result in a less nuanced interpretation of the researched media output. Keeping that in mind, I assume Fairclough’s negating position which states that the nature of any media text will necessarily constrain and limit the capacity for potential interpretations (Ibid). That is to say, the specific type of text will create boundaries for the potential range of interpretations, and therefore it is within reason to acknowledge the value of conclusions made regarding MetroXpress’ general news discourse obtained through textual analysis.
21 This thesis project’s data collection is based on existing materials in the form of newspaper articles, put though a selection process of purposive sampling. The purposive sampling method was essential because I had to locate the news articles of relevance in MetroXpress pertaining to criminal deviance and punishment. In order to locate these articles I searched through the online newspaper’s database, and disposed of articles relating to the sports- and television sections. The search was limited to the first three month of 2018, as it was my wish to surmise a snapshot current sample of the newspaper’s representational practice. The time frame is in line with what has been used in a number of comparable studies such as “People see what papers show! Psychiatry's stint
with print media: A pilot study from Mumbai, India” by Shivanshu Shrivastava and “Hate Crime Victims in Serbia: A Case Study of Context and Social Perceptions” by Jelena Jokanovic
(Shrivastava, 2018, p. 407-411; Jokanovic, 2018, p. 21-37). The buzzwords utilized in order to locate relevent articles are as follows; Punishment: Straf/ straffet/ straffesag, Judge: Dom/ Dommer/ domstol, Prison: Fængsel/ fængslet/ fængselsstaf, Crime: Forbrydelse/ forbryder/ indsat/ kriminel/ kriminalitet/ fange, Breach of law & Illegal: Ulovlig/ regelbrud/ lovovertrædelse, Court
& Justice: Højesteret/ ret / retten/ retslige/ rettergang/ retfærdig. The emboldened words represent
the English translation, or equivalent, of the Danish words which the search is supposed to cover. In appendix 9.1 the accumulative amount of word occurrences are showcased after each buzzword. For instance, the amount of articles which included the words pertaining to ‘Punishment’ over the three month span was 102 words. Afterwards follows a string of numbers which represent a specific day of the month and the number of buzzwords occurrences on that day. An example hereof is: ‘23/3-18 (2)’. In this case the first numbers is the publication date on which the words occurred, and the number in brackets refer to the amount of occurrences that were present in that specific newspaper issue. If there were no occurrences of the buzzword the newspaper issue is not mentioned in the appendix. When the word search was completed, I proceeded to transform the data-set into statically descriptive diagrams (see figures 1.4. and 1.5.).
The socio-semiotic news value oriented methodology allowed for the categorization of the news articles into five interrelated sub-discourses. The process of separation was made based on the localization of continued repetition of linguistic tools of representation relating to the news value components. I read through all compiled articles and categorized them by a number of factors; article length, tone of language, adherence to a recurrent structure of actor inclusion, use of legal terminology, tone regarding representation of deviants, rhetorical tools, implementation of news value components and the context in which punishment was most frequently represented (See tables
22 1.2. and 1.3.). This analytically motivated classification organically fostered five separate strands of sub-discourses which consequently were characterized by their differences in how they utilized the news value components and thereby simultaneously how they represented punishment and criminal deviance through distinct patterns of language use.
23
Table 1.3. News value component categorization
5. Ethics
Ethically, the chosen methodological and topical choices present two primary issues of concern; the primary use of secondary data, combined with the theoretical research focus on a marginalized societal group, termed ‘deviant’.
The theoretical foundation of my thesis analysis is partly based upon data from secondary qualitative empirical studies. Secondary data has been processed by another researcher, which means that the thesis analysis is reliant on another researcher’s self-governing observational skills and adherence to the universal code of research-ethics. This type of data has undergone a selection process, which influences the scope of the data I have access to, and can carry undetected interviewer bias. Likewise, the data was collected for a research study with a separate distinct field of inquiry from that presented in this thesis, which can lead to a problematic use of data when used outside its natural context. That being said, by shifting the research-focus from primary empirical data gathering, towards a study of representation and discourses, I have greatly reduced ethical concerns when undertaking social research. Every academic resource utilized in this project is, with the authors consent, available in the public domain. Furthermore, the representational research approach means that I do not hold direct responsibility over ethical, legal and moral issues governing the primary data-gathering processes (Collins, 2010, p. 82-95).
In the article “Contextualizing Deviance within Social Change and Stability, Morality, and
Power”, Nachman Ben-Yehuda puts forward arguments concerning the research challenge of
studying social deviance and deviant behaviour. The author pinpoints a current dominant trend of politically oriented criticism towards sociological narratives in the study of deviance. These common criticisms centers on what is perceived as an oppressive hegemonic practice of defining
24 certain behaviors as deviant, and in so doing supporting domineering systems of social power. The accusatory claim places the sociological researcher in the position of contributing to a systematic de-legitimization of social minorities, and concurrently, the very act of defining deviant behavior hinders cultural diversity and social inclusion (Ben-Yehuda, 2006, p. 561). The thesis project theoretically explores the phenomenological realm of the representational value of crime, prison and deviant behavior in relation to news discourses of crime and punishment. That is to say, I do not engage in primary research, and offer no judgement on what is deemed deviant behavior, and instead focus on the analytical value of Émile Durkheim’s theories of social deviance. While the analytical utilization of deviance does not render the ethical discussion non-consequential in a general sociological academic forum, it removes its central importance in this study.
6. Analysis: Five sub-discourses
The buzzword search within MetroXpress’ online data archives granted a total of 702 word-occurrences, collected over a three month period of data gathering. The outcome for each individual buzzcategory were distributed as follows; the category of ‘Punishment’ reached 102 word-hits, ‘Judge’ reached 136, ‘Prison’ reached 155, ‘Crime’ reached 73, ‘Illegal’ reached 98 and ‘Court and Justice’ reached a hitrate-score of 138. The average hit-rate covering the six categories amounted to a score of 117 buzzword occurrences.
.
Fig. 1.4. Buzzword occurrence 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Buzzword occurrences in
MetroXpress
25 The tendencies exhibited through the hit-rate trend indicates that certain linguistic expressions were more commonly utilized than others, in regards to the description of newsworthy events relating to crime and punishment within MetroXpress’ news articles. Interestingly, the lowest hit-rate score was that pertaining to words from the category of ‘Crime’. This word-category includes the Danish words for; ‘crime’, ‘criminal’, ‘criminality’ and ‘incarcerated’. Three much more prevalent word-categories present in the linguistic discourse of MetroXpress are the word-categories of ’Judge’, ‘Illegal’ and ’Court and Justice’, two of which received above average hit-rate scores. All three categories pertain to language of legality and courtly punishment as they include the Danish words for ‘law court’, ‘supreme court’, ‘judge’, ‘illegal’, ‘breach of law’, ‘verdict’ and ‘sentencing’. The category of ‘Punishment’ placed slightly below average and included the following translated words; ‘punishment’, ‘punish’, ‘criminal penalty’ and ‘penalty’. The category of ‘Prison’ noticeably received the highest score of all categories with a hit-rate of 155. Similarly to the words from the punishment-category, the words in this category revolve around the legal process of sentencing, and includes the Danish words for ‘Prison’, ’imprisoned’ and ’imprisonment’. Overall, this distribution of buzzword hit-rates across the six categories points towards a trend of higher scores in the categories which include words which implicitly describe the result of the courtly verdicts and the engagement of performed punishment.
Fig. 1.5. The five strands of discourse
The analysis operates with a five tiered division of sub-discourses which make up the entirety of MetroXpress’ news discourse (See figure 1.5.). The five sub-discourses are called “Blurbs”,
26
“Single agent focus”, “Spectacle”, “Verdicts” and “Cultural context”. The amounts of articles
corresponding to each of the five sub-discourses are distributed between them with vast differences in numbers (see fig. 1.6.). With a total of 216 news articles the highest concentration of articles was present in the ‘Blurbs’-discourse, which was made up of a total of 86 relevant articles. Second in line was the ‘Verdicts’-discourse with a total of 63 articles. In third place the ‘Single agent focus’ discourse received 33 articles, while the ‘Spectacle’-discourse got 27 articles and ‘Cultural context’ came last with only 7 articles. The average number of articles came to a final score of 43,2. That is to say, articles pertaining to the sub-discourses of “Blurbs” and “Verdicts” were most common within MetroXpress’ general news article discourse.
Fig. 1.6. Division of articles
6.1. Blurbs: The dominant sub-discourse
The sub-discourse Blurbs utilizes the news value components of timeliness, proximity,
superlativeness, impact and eliteness. Subsequently, the sub-discourse addresses narrative locality,
structures of punitive legitimization, the positive connection between the justice system and MetroXpress and elitist agency expressed through a structured functionality of names and titles.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Blurbs Single agent focus
Spectacle Verdicts Cultural context
Number of articles corresponding to each
of the five discourses
Number of articles Average
27
6.1.1. Timeliness and Proximity
The prominence of the news value components timeliness and proximity bear witness to a discourse influenced by a conscious effort to situate the news articles in time and place. The temporality of the news pieces permeates throughout the articles, to such an extent that less than a tenth of the articles were written with an absence of word structures such as; “i går”, “for to uger
siden”, “tidligt i går morges” and “natten til i går” (MetroXpress (ed.), 20184
, p. 6; MetroXpress (ed.), 201827, p. 8; MetroXpress (ed.), 201818, p. 6; MetroXpress (ed.), 201830, p. 8).1 Similarly, 81 out of a total of 86 articles were introduced with the location in which the criminally deviant event had occurred, which speaks to the centrality of locality within the news narratives. These persistent and continuous mentions of the regularity and spacial scope of criminal deviance instills and conveys a particular sense of the perceived magnitude of the problem of criminal deviance to the newspaper’s readership. From Esbjerg to Odense, Hjørring to Sønderborg, all of Denmark’s regions are included within the news articles (MetroXpress (ed.), 20188, p. 6; MetroXpress (ed.), 201825, p. 10; MetroXpress (ed.), 20184, p. 6; MetroXpress (ed.), 201828, p. 4). That is to say, the entire country is drawn into a narrative of omnipotent surveillance and the punitive efforts enforced by an authoritative justice system. The sheer amount of articles combined with their temporal and spacial scope function as a constant reminder of the threat that criminally deviant behavior poses. These representations of the state of affairs in the country serve to legitimize the authority and power of the justice system and the police force. As it is explained by Henrique Carvalho; “punitiveness
allows the state to deny its impotence and to promote an image of power and activity” (Carvalho,
2018, p. 227). This means that the situated timeliness assists in the promotion of an image of a legal system as an actively working governmental organ, which succeeds in combating the threat which deviant behavior poses for the society in which it occurs. It is therefore important to convey the vital social role of the punitive institution in order for the system to legitimately earn its place of power in the eyes of society at large.
6.1.2. Punitive legitimacy
In regards to the punishment for deviant behavior, MetroXpress has positioned itself as the mouthpiece of the justice system, in such a way that they have become a legitimizing force for the
1
28 punitive justice system. The argument that the newspaper functions as an active mouthpiece for the governmental agency rather than work to present an unbiased interpretation of criminal news events, is exemplified through the lack of nuanced representations of court verdicts. Within this sub-discourse, no articles whatsoever present any confrontational narratives when it comes to the implementation of punishment dealt by the justice system and enforced by the police. It is only in relation to courtly appeal-cases that a negative tone is adapted, and in these cases the negativity is directed towards the individual or the individuals who attempt to overturn a previous conviction. The narrative in the article “Sexdømt vil frifindes” from March 14th is contingent on the supposition that being convicted is a state of identity that cannot be overturned, and proposing to do so is an affront to the justice system.2 This is apparent in the structure of the article, which reiterates the details of the previous conviction and offers no insight into why the convict wants to appeal his case, simply noting that the individual wants to be acquitted of his crimes (MetroXpress (ed.), 201860, p. 6). As the newspaper chooses a singular repetitive focus on the crimes for which the individual was convicted, and simply portrays the appeal case of said convict as being solely based on the wants of the stigmatized convict rather than present the arguments for such an appeal, MetroXpress implicitly sides with the forces of legal punitivism. That is to say, they present no evidence or arguments on behalf of the previously convicted induvial which potentially could warrant an appeal and therefore they present a biased viewpoint to their readership. This goes to show that MetroXpress does not show any particular interest in portraying the justice system as fallible or suggest that the nature of the court’s verdicts is not absolute and enduring. To further this point, the news narrative in regards to appeal cases applies a supportive note when the attempt is to award a more severe punishment than that which has previously been dealt. This trend is exemplified in the article “Anker vandscooterdom” from the January 19th issue of MetroXpress.3 The newspaper showcases support for the justice systems attempt to deal a more severe punishment by discarding their otherwise non-expressive language and replacing it with animated and emotionally laden words such as ‘vanvittige’ and ‘kostede de to unge kvinder livet’, followed by a description of the two young victims. In their narrative they unambiguously attempt to evoke feelings of indignation on behalf of the victims, which is implemented in order to gather support for the justice system’s actions (MetroXpress (ed.), 201817, p. 2).4
2
”Sex-convict wants to be acquitted”.
3
“Appeals waterscooter-verdict”.
4
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6.1.3. Superlativeness, Impact and performative punitivism
In continuation hereof, the news value components Superlativeness and Impact support the argument of the positive relationship between the justice system and MetroXpress. This is apparent in the consistent representation of the success of the justice system, and the implicit support of the performative elements of the punitive power which society as a collective possess. Evidence that speaks to, and exemplifies, the narrative of the success of the justice system can be located in, amongst others, the articles; “55-årig melder sig selv” from January 5th, “Sigtet for skuddrab” from January 29th and”Politiet sigter flere for ulovligt ophold” from January 29th (MetroXpress (ed.), 20184, p. 6; MetroXpress (ed.), 201830, p. 8; MetroXpress (ed.), 201829, p. 6).5 In the first article, MetroXpress places emphasis on the fact the perpetrator has opted to turn himself in to the police. At first it is simply stated that the deviant ‘melder sig selv’, and later it is expressed that he has turned himself in as a consequence of the pressure placed on him by the police force; “Han meldte
sig selv efter pres fra politiet[…]” (MetroXpress (ed.), 20184, p. 6).6 The interpretive narrative therefore enforces a mode of thought which showcases the weight of the systemic powers at play as a positive force, which has the instructive ability to undermine the criminal deviant’s agency. This falls in line with Durkheim’s argument that penal sanctions have the function of making individuals feel the weight of social constraint (Tiryakian, 1964, p. 265; Durkheim, 2004, p. 34-37). By the same token, the narrative speaks to the omnipotence of the justice system, as an institutional force which is ingrained into the subconscious of all members of society, particularly those who contemplate deviant actions. MetroXpress’ ambition to portray the excellence of the Danish executive justice system is similarly present in the article ”Sigtet for skuddrab”.7 The article states that ”Manden, der er i 30’erne, har været internationalt efterlyst og blev standset lørdag i
grænsekontrollen i Rødbyhavn” (MetroXpress (ed.), 201830, p. 8).8 The article’s purpose is therefore to inform the newspaper’s readership of the fact that where other countries have failed, the Danish justice system has been successful in capturing an internationally renowned criminal. That is to say, MetroXpress unreservedly construct a narrative in which the reader is subconsciously invited to take part in the celebration of the success of the systemic powers and support their primary societal function. Futhermore, the third article “Politiet sigter flere for ulovligt ophold” sees the
5
“55-year-old turns himself in”; “Charged for lethal gunshot”; “Police charge numerous for illegal residence”.
6 “turns himself in”; ”He turned himself in after pressure from the police […]”. 7
“Charged for lethal gunshot”.
8
“The man, who was in his 30s, has been wanted internationally and was stopped on Saturday at the border control in Rødbyhavn”.
