Brandon Sullivan and Steve Chermak, 2012

Although there is a large body of research examining how crime and criminal justice issues are presented in the news, there is no research examining the media construction of product counterfeiting and little research on financial crimes in the media. The current study fills this gap by comparing the representation of financial crimes and product counterfeiting in the news media. This study consists of a news media content analysis of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal from 2000 to 2009. Data were analyzed to identify common patterns across three types of fraud: product counterfeiting, corporate fraud, and tax fraud. The results indicate differences across the three crime types in the types of sources and how these sources are used in the articles. The paper concludes with implications for better understanding how product counterfeiting and financial crimes are portrayed as a social problem.

This article was published in International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice. Subscription may be required to view article. 

2012 Copyright Michigan State University Board of Trustees.

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