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How media affects public perception
The influence of media in society
The influence of media in society
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Today’s society in America, criminal justice is scrutinized by the media. The news media is sometimes delivering feedback to its viewers creating a negative light on police and placing doubt in the minds of Americans as to whether the criminal justice system can be trusted. The news media is geared towards catching the viewers attention to get the most ratings as they can. The media has knowledge that this is a very controversial era in American history. They are taking advantage of this and putting sensational crimes on television across the nation. The media broadcasts sensational crimes that are going to be talked about for several years thereafter, instead of focusing on what happens more statistically. The stories published and televised
You can see specific examples in the subtitles and subtext from different news articles. The way they cover different stories and the stories they choose to cover. The way we perceive crime and such has a very large connection to how it is presented to us. The more negative the coverage, the more negative we are going to feel about it. Like for instance, ever since the 9/11 terrorist attack, the media coverage of Muslims has gotten significantly worse, further extending racial barriers.
The Sacco Article, titled “Media Constructions of Crime,” makes some good points that connect to the way the Hannah Graham case has been portrayed. First, on pg 145, Sacco writes that “crime stories that would have been a purely local affair in an earlier period now attract much wider attention because a videotape of the incident is available for broadcast.” There are hundreds of young girls that go missing each year and the Hannah Graham case is not much different than that - many years ago this most definitely would’ve been a local affair contained to the state of Virginia. Sacco also writes on pg 152 that “fear is in fact related to crime news exposure when local random violent crimes are reported in prominent fashion.” I believe that a huge reason this case is so popular is that Hannah Graham was a wealthy, smart, young, white girl who was abducted and murdered. This is terrifying and the fact that she was so innocent makes people feel like it could happen to them, and the media definitely pulls on the heartstrings of so many with this story. The last thing that Sacco writes that is related is that the line between news and entertainment has become more blurry (page 154). In this case, it has been so intriguing with so many twists and turns that it has almost become entertainment to people. In reality, a girl was murdered and it is a terrible tragedy that should
The theoretical model I believe encapsulates the relationship between criminal justice and the media the best is the Hypodermic Syringe model because the public often believes and accepts the message the media is trying to send, which allows the media to have a direct effect on the behavior of the criminal justice system. This is exactly what the Hypodermic Syringe model is defined as. When the media has a new story, people automatically accept it as the way the news reported it and they spread the message around to anyone they can talk to. Most people hear a story within a day of it happening. An example of this is how the media takes a story of a police officer using an unreasonable amount of force and sends the message to the public how
The media grabs the viewers' attention by covering the most horrible and shocking crime stories. As a result, viewers become too emotionally involved with the victims of the stories that many viewers do not realize that our agency is being weakened. Without sufficient evidence about crimes, we are unable to find solutions to violence prevention or help cure violence epidemiology. The crime incidents that the media covers are rare. Most stories often involve violent incidents in which only one person is involved or when famous people are involved. Airing these stories leads people to believe that violent crimes are rare. In fact, most crime stories the media covers are not stories that take place within our community. In Stevens' article, journalists state that they "report the unusual" (113). Reporting crimes that are unusual leads us to a state of confusion. The viewers are unable to recognize what crimes are real.
It seems everyone in the U.S. is familiar with the concept of the police detective, the almost god like poster child of a police department, tasked with solving the particular crime under investigation. Perceptions about the role of detectives in the criminal investigative process are heavily influenced by popular media portrayals (both reality-based and fictional), which extol the abilities of the detective to take the complaint of a crime, initiate an investigation, gather sufficient facts or evidence, identify the offender, justify an arrest and bring the offender to trial. Detectives themselves are often portrayed as eccentric heroes with a gift of intuition that allows them to link otherwise seemingly mundane events and items into a complex
Nowadays, everyone is surrounded by issues that gets “swept under the rug” which makes people lose faith in justice and worry about their own safety. In
Time may pass and personal morals may change, but one of the strengths of the United States of America is its unwavering dedication to justice. Throughout time, this country’s methods and laws have grown and adapted, but the basis of the law enforcement’s work has remained the same: the safety and interest of the people.
It is interesting to see how the criminal justice system has been influenced by the media. Criminal rights are being constantly monitored as officers interact with citizens on a day to day basis. However, I personally believe, that citizens are starting to take advantage of these rights. If you look up on youtube you will be able to find multiple accounts of individuals who tape a police officer's interaction with them. Though their are some instances were police abuse their constitutional authority, the majority of cases resolve in the police officer being polite, while the citizen is being antagonistic claiming that the officer is infringing on his/her "certain rights". This is where the citizens need to be aware of the criminal justice system
...it is the advent of television media that have sparked debate over the integrity of reliable news making. Print media was factual, although sometimes sensational, while electronic media made use of the technologies, such as videotapes and live footage to enhance and exaggerate the drama of the event even further. Many research studies have been conducted to show the effects of the media coverage on crime and how it influences the publics of fear of crime. Mass media has perpetuated a notion that crime is on the increase by portraying events and tragedies in the headlines that are sensational. The public buys into that idea, despite statistical accounts that reflect stable or low crime rates. The more stories people read and watch about crime, the more likely they are to think that crime is out of control. Politicians may then enact legal reforms to sooth the public’s outcry for crime control and prevention. As easy as it may be to hold the media accountable for barraging us with images and ideas that affect our views and beliefs, it important that the public take responsibility for the information that we consume. After all, there is always the “off” button on the remote control.
Our laws have allowed individuals to slip through the cracks of our justice system. Criminals who have raped and killed have walked on technicalities. The results have left the officers with a sense of failure by the system. Some police officers have taken matters in their own hands.
The public plays a fairly large hand in the creation of criminal justice policies. Being that policies are created and enforced by elected officials and public servants. No policy would find its way into practice without the support of the public in general, out of fear from a policy maker from loosing their job. In turn policy makers create policies that they feel the public will stand behind. Now that’s not to say that all criminal justice policies are popular with the public, but those unpopular polices seem to find their way out of practice. The murder of Megan Kana and the public outcry it brought forced additional policies to be created requiring sex offenders against children to register, and for their information to be made public. Other policy changes may occur without public outcry, but they are changed with public opinion in mind. Such as California policy
Television started to create crime shows (Surette, 2015). People most of the time believe what they hear or see, so what the media is portraying can affect someone reality. Media has four types of content that can be a influence in the criminal justice system and they are: advertising, news, entertainment, and infotainment Surette, 2015). These content of media has affected our society and criminal justice system.
For many individuals the media is the primary source of current events, and it shapes their opinion on the world. With the world currently growing a stronger dependence on electronic sources it is easy for individuals to develop a misconstrued sense of reality, including in the criminal justice system. The television shows and news outlets play a large role in the way a massage is communicated, through its strong influence many have a difficult time separating fact from fiction, and educating themselves on systems by which we live. The more an individual is exposed to violence, the more likely they are to find that physical violence is an acceptable outlet for their own aggression.
When a crime is committed, the public is informed almost immediately. Whether the news channels have the correct information or not, they air the stories as fast as possible. Most stories we hear on the television are not completely correct, and news channels have apologized in the past due to the spread of false information. Fear is distille...
Mass Media has become a massive source of information that is easily accessible to all of who have a television or personal computer or, now, a smartphone. What we see on mass media, contributes to our understanding of the world and how the world works, as well as information that one wouldn’t have known otherwise doing their daily routines. One of the side-effects that mass media has on us, is that the constant information we gather from mass media, can and may affect our cultural, political, and social ideals. We, as people, hear many things about the Police from other people, family, and the mass media, but now, there is an overwhelming amount of information coming from mass media about Police Officers throughout the country. Mass media predominantly reports on negative actions of Police Officers, thus fueling the fire on an ideal that has been around for decades; there is a widespread and systemic abuse from police officers.