Does The Media Exaggerate Todays Knife Crime in London?

"Media representations of crime have worried liberals and radicals (Wykes 2001). To them the media are the cause not of crime itself but of exaggerated public alarm about law and order, generating support for repressive solutions." http://www.oup.com/. (This Gives us a good insight on different group's ideas on the medias involvement with crime and should hopefully contribute to a majority theory on the question)

"The latest figures from the British Crime Survey (BCS) show "victimisation rates" fell two points to 22 per cent in the last 12 months. BUT two-thirds of respondents said they thought national crime levels had risen in the last year. " (This could be a sign that it's the media that have made the respondents belive crime had rose when the BCS claims it's at it's lowest rather than actual daily occurences'.)

"The BCS only talks to people over the age of 16, despite research showing children are the most likely victims of crime, According to the Howard League of Penal Reform, which spoke to 3,000 schoolchildren over seven years, 95 per cent of children have been the victims of crime, with only a third reporting the incidents to staff or police" http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/crime/analysis-knife-crime-data-still-blunt-$1232152.htmstill-blunt-$1232152.htm (This would show the crime rates are not actually going down which is according to the British Crime Survey but are just not being researched as the majority of the un interveiwed under 16s have actually been a victim of crime, this would say the media isn't exaggerating.)

This knife crime results map produced by the 'Home office' shows london having the highest 'police recorded' knife related crime (7,428), this shows that knife crime is spiralin out of control or does it just show no change having nothing to compare it too.
The BCS suggests the number of violent incidents involving knives in 2005/2006 was, at 169,000, around half the level of 340,000 in 1995.

(19th november 2008)

www.Ipos-mori.com 2007 survey shows people think there more crime due to the media, the huge majority say its tv and newspapers which lead them to belive crime is on the rise. (sample size of 1,191).