The communicative architecture of policing

Thesis

Inspired in part by the findings of, and fallout from, the Leveson Inquiry, and the recommendations in the subsequent Filkin Report on the relationship between the Metropolitan Police and the media, my DPhil explores police-media relations and police communications in the local (extra-London) and contemporary context. It also assesses the impact of social media technologies on both journalists and police, and on their social and informational relationships. The project involved an in-depth ethnography of newsrooms in local print and broadcast media in England, and police communications departments. The principal methodological approach is observation. Fieldwork lasted over two years, with more than seven months each of continuous observation with both local journalists and police communication professionals.

This research is unique in the limited scholarship on police-media relations, combining observational data from both newsrooms and police communications departments. It provides insights on the revenue crisis and decline in local journalism, and how this has impacted reporting on crime and policing. It details the emergence of a professional police communicator identity in British policing: tasked with managing public/media trust and confidence in policing. Perhaps most importantly, the thesis offers an account of how strategies by journalists and police to enhance their communication power, structures their relationship with one another, and the production of crime and policing knowledge. Finally, the thesis explores the deeper mechanics of power relations between policing and media, by theoretically situating them within the context of their broader fields of power.

Authors: Ó Concubhair, C

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: criminology; media sociology; policing; police-media relations; police accountability; police governance; police legitimacy; police communications
• Subjects: Police; Anthropology; Criminology; Sociology