The construction of crime in the press (Lisbon, 1892)

Abstract

This article analyzes how crime is represented in the Lisbon press in the late nineteenth century. In a period of affirmation of the modern written press, in which newspapers are important sources of information and knowledge for a considerable part of the population, the news about crime had a constant and prominent place in the daily newspaper with the largest circulation in the city of Lisbon, the Diário de Notícias. Based on an exhaustive survey of the news on crime published in this newspaper throughout 1892, the aim here is to define the contours of the construction and representation of crime and offenders by this newspaper. The treatment given to the cases of crime that are reported, what was said and what was omitted, the comments and considerations that were developed around the cases reported, were elements that influenced the vast community of readers of this newspaper, collaborating to define their perceptions of where the danger of assaults to security, order and general tranquility came from.