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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 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 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 social construction of myths of crime and criminal justice seems to follow a series of recurrent patterns. These patterns allow for an unprecedented amount of social attention to be focused upon a few isolated criminal events or issues. This attention is promoted by intense, but often brief, mass media coverage of a select problem. Intense social concern of an issue is achieved by a variety of means from the mass media, government, law enforcement officials, interpersonal communications, and the interests of reform groups whom all play major roles in focusing the publics attention on select so...
In conclusion, either while watching television or listen to the news you hear of how certain things are tainting our criminal justice system or that certain things or people are being corrupted in the system.
The media is our main source of knowledge about crime and other issues about the world. It shows us what is happening in the world which is beyond our direct experience and so it is very important. However the media can present a false view of reality and contain bias that the public needs to be aware of. The way the media represents crime can reinforce fear and create moral panic but as media consumers it is our job to critically analyze the content of the news and ask questions about the crimes that are shown in the media as to not be effected by the media in trying to shape our perceptions about crime.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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...