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27 Current Issues Crim. Just. 95 (2015-2016)
Crime, Policing and (In)Security Press Depictions of Sydney's Night-Time Economy

handle is hein.journals/cicj27 and id is 101 raw text is: Crime, Policing and (In)Security: Press Depictions of Sydney's Night-Time Economy Phillip Wadds* Abstract The night-time economy is a space of significant anxiety and concern. Recent high-profile incidents of alcohol-related violence in Sydney, Australia, have exacerbated community fears about the risks associated with the city after dark and placed the regulation and policing of nightlife in the media spotlight. This article is based on a content analysis of newspaper representations of Sydney's night-time economy and the policing and security of nightlife settings from 1996 to 2012. It argues that public police and private security are portrayed in contrasting ways. Print media reflects public ambivalence and insecurity by representing the private security industry as unruly and violent, and with links to criminality. In contrast, media portrayals of New South Wales Police reflect the conscious efforts of an increasingly media-aware police organisation to protect its public image and reinforce its occupational legitimacy. Keywords: night-time economy nightlife policing plural policing private security media news image-work Sydney Introduction In the last two decades, restructuring post-industrial cities have focused on a reshaping of the urban night away from its traditional depiction as a sphere of crime and danger. The emergence of what is now known as the urban night-time economy ('NTE') was central to this transformation. The NTE, as a concept, refers to the range of leisure-based activities and experiences connected with after-dark socialising and entertainment (Rowe et al 2008). Researchers have suggested that the urban centres that were developed to host the NTE are the product of neoliberal strategies, such as market deregulation and the promotion of private investment, that claim to provide the solution to dormant economies and the crisis of public sector funding (Harvey 1989; Hughes 1999). Advocates view the NTE as a sphere with the potential to arrest the decline of many inner- city precincts and to create new forms of public sociability and inclusion in regenerated and Lecturer in Criminology, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797 Penrith NSW 2751 Australia. Email: p.wadds@uws.edu.au.

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