CONTEMPLATING THE MONSTER - UK NATIONAL PRESS TREATMENT OF THE BECK,FRANK AFFAIR

In November 1991, at Leicester Crown Court, Frank Beck was sentenced t o five life terms and twenty-four years' imprisonment for sexual abuse during his work as a residential social worker. His activities result ed in four official reports. Given the scale of his wrong-doing, surel y a torrent of sensational coverage would have been predicted at every stage of these events? Yet neither the trial nor the official reports received high profile press treatment. This relative silence about a major criminal episode with fundamental policy implications graphicall y illustrates the social construction of news. It is first described, and then analysed in terms of the daily practices, the political preoc cupations, and the framing devices that constitute 'news' in UK nation al newspapers.