Policing media : controlling representations of the New South Wales Police Force

Abstract

In recent decades the way in which the police communicate with the media, and in turn the public, has become increasingly important. Media relations offices, and police media units, have become a prominent feature of police departments both in Australia and internationally, as a formal means by which police can manage their interface with the media. This thesis, consequently, aims to uncover the role of Police Media Units within policing departments in Australia, specifically examining the New South Wales Police Media Unit (NSW PMU), focusing on two broad research questions. Firstly, the thesis aims to explore how, and under what conditions, the NSW PMU came into formation. The second question pertains to what role the NSW PMU plays in mediating the police-media relationship and the processes creating public perceptions of policing. Within these two overarching questions, there are a number of other questions the thesis asks around the shifts in function and practices of the NSW PMU, the role of the NSW PMU in the police-media relationship and how the PMU may have altered these relations, and the broader social and political context overall. Taking a critical constructivist approach, the thesis presents a critical qualitative enquiry of police media relations and the growth of PMUs in NSW through the use of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and a documentary analysis of the background of the NSW PMU. The research indicates that police-media relationships are complex, multidimensional and symbiotic; and even more so since the introduction of PMUs within policing agencies. Furthermore, these PMUs have changed the scope of these relationships, as well as the ways in which information is dealt with in the police-media interface. PMUs are thus not only representative of a "culture of control" (Garland 2001) that exists within policing organisations, but they are also indicative of a broader system of governance operating throughout the public sector. This culture manifests in a number of ways. The thesis explores this in relation to the police-media relationship and the place of PMUs within this relationship, looking at both the micro and macro level of theorising.

Date of Award	2008
Original language	English