Shannon, Cáelainn (2024) Irish News Media’s Preferential Treatment of Religious Actors in Relation to Crime and Harm. Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.

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Abstract

News media plays a dual role in society of both informant and influence, with a shifting overlap based upon internal and external factors. Simultaneously, powerful parties within society can often exert influence over media, news inclusive - raising a question of how this relationship may in turn affect news portrayals of actors within these parties. This research project set out to examine Irish newspaper articles to deduce whether a primary ‘powerful party’ throughout Ireland’s history, the Christian order, and its branches, held sway over the portrayals of order members accused or charged of committing harm. Through a content analysis of one hundred news articles over a sixty-year period, with an even focus split between members of a Christian order and non-members, it was determined that Irish news media did show bias in favour of order members through several means such as inclusion of information, tone and language, amongst others. the significance of this finding is discussed within its own context and in the wider contexts of media and power within society, with considerations of cyclical inequality, labelling, norms, and wider social structures, alongside the plausibility of change in society’s approach to news media, as this study’s results highlight an issue which is only exacerbated by the modern-day relationship between powerful actors and media.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Additional Information:	A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MA in Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Keywords:	Irish News; Media; Preferential Treatment; Religious Actors; Crime; Harm;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Law
Item ID:	19046
Depositing User:	IR eTheses
Date Deposited:	16 Oct 2024 11:33
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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