The police, the media and their audiences

• Start date: 01 October 2006
• End date: 31 March 2008

This research comprises a study of police-media relations. It aims to investigate the strategies and processes through which the police service in England and Wales communicates into the public sphere; it will examine police interaction with media organisations and will explore how people receive and make sense of mediated information about the police. To achieve this, a range of methods will be utilised, including:

• undertaking a questionnaire survey of police organisations;
• interviewing police policymakers and practitioners;
• interviewing media professionals (primarily, but not exclusively, news-media personnel); and
• conducting group discussions with local people in contrasting sites within one police force area.

Using these methods, the intention is to bring together the three elements of police, media and audience into one integrated study that maps the national context of police-media relations and then examines the communications dynamics at a local level. The study aims to make a timely and practical contribution to current knowledge of police communications in relation to the accountability and perceived effectiveness of public sector organisations. On a theoretical level, it will explore the role that police-media relations plays in maintaining police legitimacy during times of rapid technological and organisational change.