The Image of the Police in the Printed Media
The Image of the Police in the Printed Media

Summary/Abstract: Police legitimacy and police confidence are indicators of whetherthe public agrees with how the police apply their authority andpower and whether the public are willing to accept policedecisions. These are important aspects of police work because howmuch citizens trust the police, the more they feel a moralresponsibility to provide assistance and cooperation.Part of the solution for the creation and maintenance of policelegitimacy and trust is the establishment of an appropriate strategyfor public relations, aimed to continuously maintain good image ofthe police. In such a strategy for public relations, the media are animportant part because they are the means of creating andmaintaining the police image as it is framed and ordered by thepolice. Police image directly affects both police legitimacy andtrust and therefore, scholars dealing with the issues of police trustalso have to deal with the media impact on building that trust.Therefore, we have made a qualitative analysis of media reportsabout police and policing in Macedonia in order to see how policeare portrayed in the mass media. Specifically, by analyzing thecontent we want to answer the following research questions: Whataspects of policing are presented in the mass media? Are theremore positive or negative portrayals of the police? What are thesources of information? And whether, on the basis of theinformation that is given to the public, can we "recognize" a policestrategy for building public trust? The research interest is focusedon the importance of both the language and the style ofpresentation, as well as on the message that is sent to the readers.

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