Signal crimes (as determined by Professors Martin Innes and Nigel Fielding) capture the social semiotic process where particular crimes and disorderly conduct have a remarkable affect, substantiating in a societies immediate response. Signal crimes more often than not coincide heavily with the media, either as a tool, in response to, or simply for coverage.
I make reference to the below Courier Mail front page, as it is packed full of symbolically loaded imagery and symbolism from which I can transfer theory into practical examples. The media piece was controversial and described as 'insensitively reported'. The headline demonstrates the power of polysemy. The original headline Monster Chef and the She Male, stirred grave community anger after a transgender woman was brutally dismembered by her chef husband. The lack of concrete definition of the terms monster and she male, were the only reason the headline made it to publishing, however not slippery enough to be cleared of being derogatory. The publishing company News Corp attempted to use the symbolically loaded imagery featured with the story, of the victim in her bikinis, posing suggestively, to its advantage. The victim was a professional sex worker and the story read as to discredit her in many ways, this being one of them. It has been pointed out that had the story have been complimented with one of the images used by other publications such as that of her fully dressed and smiling, it would have read differently entirely. Academic writers such as Professors Mathew Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro (2005) have conducted research, identifying specifically where media firms distort or provide symbols that allure to another meaning, to provide information that conforms with consumers' prior beliefs.
Resources
Gentzkow, Mathew. and Shapiro, Jesse (2005). Media bias and reputation.