Mass Media And Police Brutality

In the world we live in today, racism and police brutality are raising concerns that society needs to be aware of. Beginning from the mid 1900s and on, racism was an ongoing problem that many individuals acted on from day to day. Whether it was mainly whites who hated blacks or vice versa, there never seemed as if a solution would ever come about. Based on this article about racism and police brutality, it talks a lot about how brutality following the Rodney King incident has change and is more exposed due to updated technology. Racism is not a thing of the past, it exist in this day and happens everyday in front of our eyes. Another point from this article is how the media portrays black as intimidating and scary which often times is the reason why police officers act the way they do when they are encountering a black male. Today’s society is taught to be afraid of black men because they are dangerous and unpredictable. The media account is a short video of how police brutality is caught on camera and how the police are portrayed because of these videos. Because of the new technology officers are no longer able to get away with brutality and not having to answer for there actions. This media account is more of an awareness video of how if someone sees the police physically abusing someone, they should take there phones out and record everything that is going on. Today’s camera phone as said to be the police’s kryptonite because they capture everything that is done by the

From the disturbing beating of Rodney King to the horrific death of Malice Green to the shooting of Michael Brown shows there is a consistent problem with police brutality and the exertion of force used. Police brutality seems to be a rising issue again with the occurrence of the Michael Brown shooting and the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement making sure that any form of police brutality should not be swept under the rug. Action has been taken in some cities around the country for dealing with police brutality, such as police reform, which requires the retraining of hundreds of officers. There has also been talk and use of police body cameras that would record interactions between officers and the public to clear up any discrepancies in police/witness reports. To look at the effects and causation of police brutality we will be analyzing the media’s role, the sociological and psychological aspects of officers who administer the beating, and the timing of when these beatings/killings occurred.

Police brutality is defined as the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians ("What Is Police Brutality?"). Recently, there have been a surplus of incidents involving police brutality. Cases like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice are examples of police brutality. All three of these victims ended up dead at the hands of police. Statistics show that, just this year alone, 1,013 Americans have been killed by cops (Cop Crisis). Social media has made it remarkably easy for cases like these to gain and raise awareness. Many hashtags and movements have begun because of the new-found awareness about police brutality. The public is finally recognizing it as a problem and movements are trying to remedy the system. Unfortunately, police brutality is not easy to fix. Some suggest we need to institute several laws, others think we need to get to the root of the problem and revamp the way police officers are trained.

In addition to social medias significance, online activism has made sure we know victim’s names that have been victims of fatal violence at the hands of police. Authority figures were never questioned as to why they did the things they do, until now. People are now linking together different incidents and putting them together as a whole. Since the rise of new generation activists such as Alicia Garza and McKesson, violence and fatalities at the hands of police are now front page news and are no longer be

a few years now, police brutality has become an extremely controversial topic and has raised many debates and questions about law enforcement and civilians. Police brutality has been common for decades. However after the death of African Americans such as Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile, many other African Americans have rose up in protest and anger. The anger stems from these men dying at the hands of police which the civilians believe they died from situation that should have been handled differently. Cases like these have caused a major divide with African Americans and law enforcement. Many people wonder where the relationship between the two went wrong and how police brutality became such a big issue that seems impossible

In a nation that prides itself on protecting the rights of all citizens, one right is under a blistering attack. According to the second amendment the “right to bear arms shall not be infringed” but in every corner of America that right is getting closer and closer to disappearing. In the news, Americans only hear of the guns that kill, they don’t hear of the guns that save. The fact of the matter is, the right to carry concealed weapons has saved lives.

The perception of excessive force has been intensely debated for the last few decades. With continuous public defiance increasing, instances of police brutality are rising at an exponential rate. However, the accessibility to social media has greatly increased as well, therefore, causing us to become more aware of such situations. With that considered, the increased amount of police beatings is far less than what may be perceived. Frequently occurrences of police brutality are brought to our attention through the media. Often times, broadcasting very graphic, and sometimes unlawful situations. Several people may say that discrimination against particular ethnicities may be the main cause of this recent influx. Though, others may believe that subsequent social disparities towards specific ethnicities may cause frustration, consequently, causing law enforcement officers to use unnecessary excessive force, more frequently.

This research will look at data collected by multiple surveys and field research that has been carried out over the past decade. The data that is collected will be able to give us a better look at the amount of media the public consumes and what their perceptions are on police brutality. This proposal will review the research and data collected by others who have previously studied this topic and outline a new study. Prior studies have examined the media’s effect on the public’s perception on how effective the police are. The proposed study will attempt to look deeper into how much the media truly effects how often the public perceives that misconduct and brutality incidence occur among police forces.

The police involved shooting of Michael Brown has changed the way society views law enforcement, and the method of how law enforcement officers have to interact with this same society. With the deaths of individuals like Brown, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, and with the assistance of social media and bias news reporting, as well as high level officials within our social structure, who’s speech and words can carry a large impact on our behaviors, there has been a picture painted that police are murdering people of different ethnicities without regard for justifiable force. Politicians, celebrities and the media alike, have been a major contributor to the anti-police sentiment and the violent interactions that police

The topic of police brutality is very popular in the media today. According to CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin, “It feels like every week, a name is added to the list: another man, often black and unarmed, has died at the hands of police.” The Huffington Post even has a whole section of its website dedicated to police brutality. It includes a listing of all the recent events of police brutality, violence

Police brutality is an epidemic in America that has not subsided despite numerous attempts to ensure that officers will be held accountable. Many calls for reform have been discussed, but unfortunately, nothing substantial has been done. In the first six months of 2017 alone, 492 citizens were shot and killed by police officers (Jenkins.) “These numbers show us that officer-involved shootings are constant over time,” Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina criminologist said to The Washington Post. “Some places go up, some go down, but it’s averaging out. This is our society in the 21st century,” (Jenkins.) It is profoundly difficult to say what could be done to make sure law enforcement are held properly accountable for their brutality.

Excessive force and police brutality have become common terms for anyone keeping up with today’s current events. In 2014, the media covered numerous cases of excessive force that resulted in the deaths of several people of color (Nelson & Staff, 2014). The most widely covered cases by the media in 2014 were of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black male shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri; and Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black male in Staten Island, New York who was put into a choke by police officer Daniel Pantaleo until he lost consciousness and stopped breathing (Nelson & Staff, 2014). These cases brought attention to the seriousness of police brutality and the curiosity of how often it occurs (Brown, 2015).

A current most spoken issue among the public media is gun violence or mass shooting however the crime is not as many as it was twenty years ago. The term mass shooting does not have an official set of definition yet, but the term indicates crime which is killing as many people as possible in a short time frame. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines it as “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area” (Sam Brock, Rachel Witte, and Joe Rojas). A mass shooting can begin due to several reasons: it could be background history, media, despair, or something else. Nico Lang, the author of America’s White Masculinity Complex and The Myth of The “Senseless” Mass Shooting says, mass shooting can also be related to mental “functions like the specter of ‘mental illness.’” A number of mass shooters have serious, often undiagnosed mental problems. Are the mass media addressing the basic issue clearly? Of course, the media address the issue more than the violence expects to be addressed, but it is not overt enough. ….. By examining a variety of news media coverage on the subject of mass shooting, this essay concludes that when choosing stories to cover, the news media must take the general audience into consideration. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the media exaggerate the crime and report it disproportionally, and the distortion of reality can have variety of effects on the viewer or the general audience.

1. If it wasn’t for social media the truth of these cases would not be seen and once again silenced by a bias police report. (“Police brutality raises social media shock waves.”)

A common issue presented in today’s national media is police brutality. Police brutality is the use of unnecessary force on civilians by police. The concept of having police officers is to ensure safety and protection of citizens. Police should only use force necessary to accomplish their lawful purpose. The common occurrence of police brutality has sparked responses nationwide in the form of protests, riots, and movements to end the excessive and sometimes fatal force of police officers. The public rallies are also in response to lack of conviction or repercussions of many of the cops who demonstrate unjust police brutality. These incidents are also commonly associated with racial disparity. The headline news stories of the shooting and killing of unarmed African Americans, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and twelve year old Tamir Rice, all in the same year, prompted citizens nationwide that change in the law enforcement system is necessary. While a majority of police abide to their oaths and stand for justice, a noticeable amount have historically misused their power. If a community cannot trust police officers, it will be detrimental for society as a whole.