Why is it that protests are treated as breaking news? Why are protests followed so closely for new developments? After all protests are just a way for the public to express its concerns and advocate for change. Protests are so sensationalized because of they are portrayed in the media, which leads to poor public opinion. When the traditional news media covers protests, the main focus is shifted away from the message of the protest in favor of exaggerating the little violence that occurs. This form of bias in media coverage forces activist groups to use more extreme protest tactics to get any coverage. This paradigm leads to a negative impression of activism among the general public, which creates a public that is ill informed about the activism …show more content…
The media covers the violence that occurs rather than the actual message that the protesters want to express. This can clearly be seen the timing of the coverage. During the protests in Baltimore a correlation between cable news coverage and the start of the violent protests can clearly be seen. “Coverage on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News increased substantially on April 27, the night violence erupted in Baltimore. The following day, coverage on cable news peaked at 59 stories. During these two days of violent incidents, coverage increased by a substantial 162 percent, compared with the two days prior, April 25 and 26, when the protests were peaceful” (Williams). This shows that the media clearly prefers covering more violent and eye catching stories rather than the peaceful advocacy that expresses activists concerns. This leaves the public uninformed about the very real problems that people are advocating for. Many activists are dismayed at the media’s choice of coverage. “In a tweet that was retweeted over 10,000 times, the musician Propaganda observed that ‘Citizens of Baltimore been peacefully protesting for WEEKS. Not one news camera came till somethin was on fire. What u think that teaches?’”(Williams). These activists represent an important part of democracy, they are the voice of the people and the ones that can bring about social change. By effectively blocking the messages of activists from reaching the general public the media is inhibiting people's’ ability to participate in
The 2006 Duke Lacrosse Case brought to light many of the issues and divisions currently plaguing our media sphere. This terrible act of injustice, which blamed three innocent Duke lacrosse players, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, for the rape of an African-American stripper, garnered extensive media attention that gripped America for almost an entire year (Wasserman, 3). Today, many scrutinze the media’s methods of covering the case, and deem that certain codes of ethics were not adhered to. Rather than remaining neutral, newspapers and TV outlets allowed themselves to “be used” by Mike Nifong, the former District Attorney for Durham and prosecutor of the case, by reporting only his version of the incident and investigation (11). While some newspapers like Newsweek and The News & Observer were relatively quick to recognize flaws in the investigation, many prominent outlets like The New York Times overlooked important evidence and published inaccurate information. In response to this, the Duke Lacrosse Case saw a huge rise in blog reporting, as many sought to uncover the truth. Conclusively, the media overstepped its boundaries when reporting on this particular case, demonstrating the compelling effects sensationalism has on the field of journalism.
For example, what happened in Baltimore led to social movements in New York and New Jersey and eventually a mass behavior or movement known as “Black Lives Matter”. With very rare exception, the stories on the news and on front pages of newspapers only show those acts of civil disobedience that escalate to violence. Rather than cover a peaceful protest, they would have a news story where police had to arrest protesters. People form opinions on events, cultures, politics and even other races based on what they see on the news. Two virtually identical situations can be understood in two completely different ways based on the way it is reported. For example, “the Associated Press wire service distributed two stories on August 30, 2005. In one, a White couple is shown wading through floodwater and the caption reads "Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store . . ." In the other image, a young Black man is shown in nearly the exact same situation but the caption reads "A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans . . ." The conclusion is that White victims of Katrina found food while Black victims stole food” (Haider). So why didn’t the young Black man find food? This is a part of racism and stereotyping that has been prevalent in society and news coverage for many
In the wake of the 1992 Riots, the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Wall Street Journal both jumped to politicize the riots, assigning blame, responsibility and power to certain groups and individuals. However that is where the similarities end because the Wall Street Journal tends to steer responsibility away from the Republican government and towards the black communities and leaders associated with the violence. This appears to have been the dominant discourse of the time, seeking to diagnose problems within specific racial communities instead of the country’s institutional structure. Conversely, the Los Angeles Sentinel put all of the focus on the government and the people with the most power and privilege. It maintained a discourse of victimization
The media is often considered to be biased. The reason for this is because they do not act neutral on the things that they report on. They usually give their point of view and tend to warp the information so it’s easily digestible by the average person. This type of “nugget feeding,” can influence the judgment of some one who has no idea what is going on. The media tends to sensationalize the news by making it seem dramatic, and compelling. This hooks the viewer, and keeps them tuned in. The purpose of this is for ratings, and most importantly money. The media has become less professional, and their morality has gone down hill. The editors/gatekeepers decide what information is sent out for the public to see, and hear. This is another way that the news is shaped for our viewing pleasure.
African Americans throughout the nation watched on social media as police responded to the initial peaceful protests with armored vehicles, riot gear, and the threat rubber bullets, dogs, and guns. These vicarious police experiences impacted them as though they had been confronted with the same treatment, spurring a national outcry against police brutality and the frequent police shootings of unarmed African American men. As social media spread awareness, national and international news organizations began reporting on the events in Ferguson, displaying images of protestors being treated as enemy combatants by police. The images and videos emerging led to an influx of support from many seemingly-unrelated groups who chose to stand in solidarity with the protestors. International media and Amnesty International scrutinized police actions while celebrities and individuals associated with many other oppressed and disadvantaged groups flocked to the region to join in the protest. As in the Civil Rights Movement, images of protestors confronting lines of police in riot gear and being teargassed focused the world on injustices faced by African Americans and forced the nation to take
According to Apel (2014), on August 9,2014, Michael Brown,18, an unarmed black man of Ferguson, Missouri was shot and killed by a white police officer named Darren Wilson. Considering the evidence, a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson. This sparked a nationwide protest. People came from near and far to protest the judge’s decision. It was no peaceful protest, it might have appeared to start out as a nonviolent protest, but like many protests, it quickly turned violent. People wanted justice and the people felt as though the system once again had felled them. Barnett (2014), a reporter says that after the shooting groups such as the “New Black Panthers,” demanded a rebellion against the officer who shot Brown. For a while the head of police was not going to reveal the name of the officer who killed the Brown, but after a series of violent protest, the head of police released the officer’s name. If violence was not used during the protest it would not have received worldwide attention. Furthermore, the public would not have known the officer who killed Brown. Due to the amount of attention the Michael Brown’s case received and because of the amount of passion the protestors had and how they were willing to die to get their point across sparked attention. Requiring many people who were in the political spotlight to
In recent American culture, people have not peacefully practiced civil disobedience and have been unable to phrase their goals succinctly to the media. Marches and protests for the Black Lives Matter movement have sometimes involved violence. Because the Black Lives Matter movement is not an internationally connected movement and various people who may not practice formal civil disobedience can become involved, the movement has gained a negative reputation. The movement
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
...plications, the public is able to share and obtain information before the morning newspaper is delivered. In addition, the media today continues to dramatize public events. Cases such as the Zimmerman Trial or foreign incidents in Ukraine remain headlines on news articles for months. Each source presents bias and influences its audience differently.
The media takes a biased approach on the news that they cover, giving their audience an incomplete view of what had actually happened in a story. Most people believe that they are not “being propagandized or being in some way manipulated” into thinking a certain way or hearing certain “truths” told by their favorite media outlets (Greenwald 827). In reality, everyone is susceptible to suggestion as emphasized in the article “Limiting Democracy: The American Media’s World View, and Ours.” The
In the second half of The Death of Expertise, Nichols denounces student activism, social media, modern journalism, and fraudulent “experts.” He claims that modern activism is not as important when compared to activism in the past, and that today’s activists get angered on the same level as activists in the 1960s and concludes that the 21st century’s problems are nothing compared to the past issues of civil rights and conscription (180). Although the truth is that Nichols’ is being biased and is allowing his pessimism to blind him. Protests in the 21st century are vastly important, and even challenge the significance of the protests in the 20th century. Protests that prove to be important in the United States of America include today’s Black Lives Matter movements, the opposition to President Bush’s attack on Iraq in 2003, and the 2004 March for Women’s Lives.
The media constructs a cycle to show that the event will occur again. They put a lot of exaggeration and distort the information. They report of non events which seem to support their predictions. In a discovery by Cohen, he stated that the media condemned use of violence by minority groups but acknowledged violence as a legitimate way of police to deal with problems (Jewkes 2004, p.
The number of revolutions in the last 3 decades has increased, and seems to keep increasing. Civil unrest and protests brought many victims including civil and political figures throughout the world. In the era where technology is at the peak of its success, especially in communication technologies, mankind suffers from lack of communication. Problem is not caused by the technology itself, the problem is in human nature. I will continue with an analogy. Man invented the knife, which is very useful tool in our daily lives. The problem occurs when one thinks about the purposes that knife could be used. Story repeats itself with Newspapers and News Media. Technology improved the speed and the size that news can reach anywhere in couple of seconds. In a few seconds we can reach our friend at the other pole of the globe and receive pictures and live videos in response. We can send information, receive it and even create it in the artificial world. Life has become easier with technology. We can control our cell phones with voice command and reserve a table in the closest restaurant for dinner. Technology is everywhere in our lives, but if we think for a second the purposes we could use them for then the danger begins. In this short essay I will be talking about the struggle of mankind for freedom and the stages it went through. There are 3 parts to my paper. In the first part I will discuss the birth of World Wide Web and how the purpose of it went through changes. In the second part, I will be talking about birth of newspapers in the Web, precisely how it developed into an intermediate body that transfers information to people. Ultimately, I will discuss the Ukrainian revolution and the role of the news media in it and ho...
With the sensationalizing journalism, such as Ferguson, Baltimore, and New York City, to name a few, takes away what occurs in the rural areas and forces law enforcement to focus majority it’s resources and time on the more urban areas. An example would be the sensationalizing of the way some minorities feel that all police are biased and wrongly target specific groups based on stereotypes and incorrect characterizations. The twenty-four (24) hour news and entertainment cycle that disseminates and emphasizes certain incidents to attract viewership and inflame communities on both sides of the issues (Barton, 2011). What is needed is calm and reasoned dialog out of the glare of cameras and reporters between our elected leaders and the community to establish common ground and lines of communication so that when bad things happen, and they will, everyone has confidence that there will be transparency in the rule of law will be followed. With that being said the changing attitudes and expectations of the American public has been and most always will be safety. The American people want the assurance that they will be secure in their homes, work place, their children can go the school,
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. As long as the newspapers, internet, network television, etc, continued to be easily accessible to the public, the media will continue to have an influence in shaping its opinions. Factors such as agenda-setting, framing and priming help shape the public opinions. Agenda-setting is when the media focuses their attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinion on, whereas framing allows the media to select certain aspects about the problem and then make them appear more salient. Similarly, priming works by repeatedly exposing certain issues to public. As the issues get more exposure, the individual will be more likely to recall or retain the information in their minds. This paper will discuss these three factors played out systemically by media and how our opinions are constantly being influence and shape by them.