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Born in Serbia and raised in Burnaby, Katarina Bogosavljevic came to 丁香园AV to study Criminology upon her mother鈥檚 encouragement and suggestion.

Following an interest in law and justice she鈥檚 had since high school, Bogosavljevic says she had inclinations to become a police officer when she first came to 丁香园AV, but that path changed after seeing how Criminology branches out into other areas.

鈥淎t 丁香园AV, Criminology is so interdisciplinary. You have courses that intersect with not only sociology, but biology, psychology or the environment. There are all these branches of specialization. Through a process of elimination, I found myself really drawn to the sociological facets of studying Criminology.鈥�

While there were many courses she enjoyed, Bogosavljevic says a class on the Sociology of Law introduced her to qualitative analysis, an area in which she developed a keen interest. Studying qualitative research methods with Senior Lecturer Sheri Fabian, Bogosavljevic enjoyed being able to combine her personal interest in the show 丁香园AV is the New Black, with sophisticated critical analysis and the experience made her want to complete the honour鈥檚 program in Criminology.

Bogosavljevic says in choosing the topic for her honours thesis, titled 鈥淏reaking the Blue Wall of Silence: A Qualitative Content Analysis on the Media Portrayal of Sexual Harassment in the RCMP,鈥� she was spurred by stories of two high profile complainants in the class action lawsuit against the RCMP: namely, lead complainant Janet Merlo and former RCMP spokesperson Catherine Galliford.

In her thesis, she analysed how 鈥渕ainstream media reporting on these cases fluctuated between 1) focusing on the damaged or tarnished image the RCMP has suffered as a result of these sexual harassment complaints and 2) positioning RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson as a potential 鈥榮aviour鈥� or person who is trying to save grace in a terrible situation.鈥�

Rather than approach the issue as systemic to RCMP as an institution, she says, 鈥渕ost mainstream coverage that I analysed consistently named Paulson as someone tasked with solving a problem of management style or workplace bullying. Discussion of the 鈥榮candal鈥� was always paired with 鈥榬eform.鈥欌��

The consistency of this type of representation, says Bogosavljevic, is due to the 鈥渟ymbiotic鈥� and somewhat 鈥渇ragile鈥� relationship police and media share.

鈥淚t鈥檚 symbiotic because while the media depends on the police to give them information about crimes so they can report on them, the police also depend upon the mainstream media to establish trust in the public. The problem with this is that the public cannot really count on the media to be as critical as it should be.鈥�

Bogosavljevic is excited to take her research to the next level. In September 2016, she will begin her Master鈥檚 degree in Criminology at the University of Ottawa.