Media Constructions of Identity Theft

In recent years identity theft has established itself in the ethos of the digital age. Even so, scholarship toward identity theft in general is strikingly limited. This work fills a gap by addressing the style, substance, and focus of the media representation of identity theft via a content analysis of a nationally representative sample of offender focused newspaper articles from 1995-2005. The findings suggest that the media represent identity theft through scornful remarks, general astonishment with victimization, alarm due to the ease of offending through the use of technology, and by suggesting that identity theft is an unstoppable problem. Discourse on the relationship between this new form of criminality and the media is provided and direction for future research is suggested.