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Does the media have an impact on public perception of crime
Distortion of crime by media
Does the media have an impact on public perception of crime
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1. It is extremely important for journalists to understand the impact and influence the media has on crime and crime victims. They need to know the benefits and risks of the victims for speaking to the media. For example, some benefits include humanizing crime and showing their true bearing on individuals, families and communities. Other benefits are validating victims, making their perspectives heard, inspire other victims to report crimes and seek external help, and just spread public awareness and understanding. However, with benefits always comes risks. Public attention of the crime can cause the victim to experience a “secondary victimization” that is a completely unnecessary trauma to the victim. They can also experience public shame, …show more content…
Breaking News, Feature Stories, and High Impact Stories all serve to get information out in regards to the victimization—regardless if it’s in all different ways/aspects. Those who report breaking news, are under a tight deadline to gather accurate information from multiple sources about a certain crime. The reporters are faced with victims and witnesses just after the crime occurred. Reporters face the challenge of finding accurate facts rather than fibbing opinions/facts. Feature stories are follow-up to a breaking news story. The reporter may catch up with the victim after the first year of the story breaking, then 5 years and 10 years after. Feature stories can also be an update on cold cases—like if they have a lead after so many years, etc. In feature stories, it may be difficult to find quality content that readers and watchers want to read/watch. Difference between a breaking news story and a feature story would be that in a feature story, the reporter has more time to prepare/conduct the interview than a breaking news story. A high-impact story goes past the basic who, what, where, when, why, and how and divulges into social, political, economic, or cultural impact of crime and victimization. These stories specifically give the victims a voice—they break the mold and make the readers pause and reflect on their own lives and how they, themselves, were impacted. A challenged faced by those writing an high-impact story is just the time and effort put forth into the investigation of the
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
In reference to the media’s role, they have been highlighted for playing a part in maintaining these views by portraying victims in a certain way according to the newsworthiness of each story and their selectiveness (Greer, 2007). Furthermore, there has been an increase in both fictional crime programmes and crime documentaries, with Crimewatch particularly becoming a regular part of British viewing. In the modern context, crime has continued to represent a large proportion of news reporting and with the aid of social networking sites and self-publicity via the internet, journalists are now more able to dig even deeper into the lives of people on whom they wish to report. Newspapers continue to keep the public informed with the latest headlines and the internet has also provided opportunities for members of the public to have their input in blogs.
The first approach I would like to take to Megan Huntsman's crimes is the approach of news reporting, how we understand it, and how our initial emotional reactions, through availability heuristics, makes us arrive at quick conclusion that may or may not be correct.
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
When the victim does not fit the ideal victim attributes which society has familiarised themselves with, it can cause complications and confusion. Experts have noticed there is already a significant presence of victim blaming, especially for cases involving both genders. The fear of being blamed and rejected by the public is prominent in all victims. Victim blaming proclaims the victim also played a role in the crime by allowing the crime to occur through their actions (Kilmartin and Allison, 2017, p.21). Agarin (2014, p.173) underlines the problem of victim blaming is due to the mass of social problems and misconceptions within society. The offender can have “an edge in court of public opinion” if victim blaming exists, resulting in the prevention of the case accomplishing an effective deduction in court (Humphries, 2009, p.27). Thus, victims will become more reluctant to report offences because of their decrease in trust in the police and criminal justice system, leading to the dark figure of
First, Postman makes a point that networks lead stories cover tragedies as an attention grabber. Another way some people refer to this technique is, “If It Bleeds It Leads”. PBS NewsHour broadcast began with a short two minute story about a train that crashed into a garbage truck. They start off by showing the crashed train and video of rescue workers scrambling around the
Broken Lives written by Estelle Blackburn is an expository text, which through research has presented that nineteen year old John Button was wrongfully convicted of killing his seventeen year old girlfriend Rosemary Anderson in a hit and run. I believe through my reading of Broken Lives that the key factor of expository texts is to explore awkward questions deeply and critically. In this case who was guilty of killing Rosemary Anderson in a hit and run, John Button or Eric Edgar Cooke, and the effect of Cooke’s crimes and murders had on people.
In the criminal justice field, many studies are focused on the effects of media’s portrayal of crime. The definition of media has included TV news, TV dramas (Law and Order,NCIS, etc), and newspapers. Chiricos. Padgett, and Gertz (2011) and Romer, Hall Jamieson, and Aday (2003) included local versus national TV news watching in their study. Both studies found that increase in viewership of news media increased fear of crime. One found that local news had more of an influence on fear of crime than national news (Chiricos, Padgett, & Gertz, 2000).
Media headlines play a huge role in how a person reading or listening to a report will view the suspect and the victim, The media will often do this because of the race of the suspect or killer. “Demonstrating the power that news outlets wield in portraying victims based on images they select” (Wing). The media can portray victims and suspects however they want and
When reporting crime events the media focus only on the negative scenarios that can impact the society, these events are to be know as “newsworthy” (Hall, 1978). Newsworthy crime news is formed through the selective approach taken by the editors where only the main idea of the topic is likely to be reproduced in the media. This is due to crime is not an open event as witnesses are limited hence the selective approach allows the editor to only report the thrilling parts of the crime. (Stuart Hall, 1978: p.53) quoted “‘News’ is the end-product of a complex proves which begins with a systematic sorting and selecting of events and topics according to a socially constructed set of categories”. As a result, this approach has formed bias opinions towards crime reporting as it’s presented in the editor’s point of view (Hall, 1978). The media hence only targets crime with events that is unexpected and events that’s viewed as out of the norm compared to the majority of the society. Alternatively, this changes the view of audiences as they view the society as a ‘problematic reality’ (Hall, 1978). The majority of world is therefore mislead by the fictional reporting of crime as many consumers
The mass media is a vehicle for delivering information and to entertain. But implications that the media do more harm than good concerning its practices and its effects on the public. The two main categories of mass media are print media and electronic media. Although they overlap in some areas, they differ mostly in the subject matter they cover and in their delivery methods. Research had been conducted in using both these forms to gauge the impact that each one has on the public. Print media tends to be more factual based whereas electronic media tend to focus more on visual aids to help relay the information. The public’s fear of crime has an impact on the public agenda of policy makers. Fear of crime not only affects individual but may also have an impact on the laws that affect crime control and prevention.
The interview conducted by Katie Couric on the Today show in 1999 allowed the victims and families to tell their side of the story, it illustrated an important issue, and it showed us the viewers the human feeling and experience from the victim and family member. Reporters are well served by the advice to approach victims and their families and friends with dignity, respect, care, and compassion (Carter & Bucqueroux, Interviewing victims pdf). Katie Couric showed me that she respected and cared about the victims and she was compassionate, especially when she placed her hand on the father’s arm as he was getting emotional. The media in this interview was responsible in how the interview was conducted and how they treated the victims and families. The five rules of ethical journalism are: truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, humanity, and accountability (Responsible Journalism powerpoint).
In society today the media’s has an extensive influence on the public by mediums such as the internet, television news, newspapers and radio. In addition, crime is often considered both a source of news and entertainment with such programs as CSI, NCIS and Criminal Minds being some amongst many others that also influence public perception on crime (Hayes & Levett, 2013). Evidence shows that the medias portrayal of crime can indeed affect the public’s perception although evidence will demonstrates that crime perception can be unique to each individual. Evidence shows that media reports have the potential to strongly influence people’s daily activities (Weatherburn and Indermaur, 2004). When the media reports on a crime it triggers an effect
There are many criminal events that occur every day, however only a few are selected as they are deemed to be newsworthy. Chibnall (1977) claimed that a story is classed as newsworthy if it is dramatized, immediate and involves structured access. ‘The Sun’ could be seen to use all these elements, for example they over emphasize on the violence that occurred and ...
So are stories that reaffirm our humanity and the resilience of the human spirit – the drowned high school student, the 13-year-old boy and the 10-year-old girl struggling to come back to life from the brink of death – and, certainly, the story of an innocent 7-year-old girl shot down during a senseless act of violence. Stories of missing boaters and heroic efforts to find them are news as well. Even stories of aberrant behavior and politicians falling from grace are news. However, as I stated earlier, it is important to supplement TV news with other sources of information, e.g., a reputable newspaper, a weekly news magazine, or a radio news broadcast, for more in-depth coverage, insights gained from different perspectives, and any stories not covered in the television newscasts.