News Commentary On Crime And The Media

Hollywood scripts and television programming are filled with storylines of crime and criminal justice. The viewing public consumes crime

In “The fallout from too much crime coverage” by Carl Sessions Stepp, he describes the destructive side effects that media coverage can have on celebrities in high-profile cases. He states (Stepp, 1998), “However, endless crime coverage distorts the true crime picture and pushes politicians toward quick and dirty solutions.” Many feel the pressure from the media has fated the Menendez brothers to an inequitable outcome. Moreover, the excessive spotlight on Erik and Lyle created an off-putting ideal, sexualizing their crimes because of their physical appearances and demeanors. Ultimately, their outcome came from three different trials and multiple juries.

Most people use second hand information as their core source of information about crime, this source of information usually being the media. When carrying out sample research in Birmingham, Susan Smith (1984) discovered that 52% of people obtained most of their information about crime from the media, 36% obtained it from hearsay or alleged experiences of friends and neighbours, 3% from their own experiences, and 1% from the police service themselves (cited in Jones, 2001; 8). However the media tend to exaggerate upon areas of criminal activity causing a moral panic. ‘A moral panic is a semi- spontaneous or media generated mass movement based on the perception that some individual or group,

Media coverage of news events can be disseminated to the general public in any number of different ways and media biases often “reflects certain organizational and/or professional preferences or values” (Bennett 2011, 173). In fact, Lundman (2003) points out “that journalists assess the newsworthiness of homicides occurrences using the relative frequency of particular types of murders and how well specific murder occurrences mesh with stereotypical race and gender typifications (357).” In addition, Johnson (2012) felt that the real job of media was to “create a message that…grabs public attention (62).” In other words, can the media grab the public’s attention and hold it?

Different forms of media, such as television, films, books, and newspapers, have similar ways of portraying the criminal justice system. The media constructs representations of crime and justice and in doing this, it presents an often dramatized representation of the criminal justice system; and this does not just influence on the public’s lay view of crime but also for criminal justice experts (Marsh, 2014). In the media it is commonly known that they are a business, and businesses need to make a profit. Because of this, the media’s portrayal of the criminal justice system has been very negative. With the news, their main purpose is to produce what sells. So many of them would edit the information they have gathered and make a story that will sell. Also the media does not show the full process of the criminal justice as a quick process, while in fact it is not. For example, last year, Netflix released a short series called “Making A Murderer”. Most people claimed that they feel like they can solve a crime when they finished watching a series. While that series is very factual, it does not hit every single step of the criminal justice process.

Consequently, I will conduct an extensive literature review of media and memory studies and true crime studies. With the “crimes” of true crime on public record and increasingly playing out in the public sphere through news and live trial coverage, narratives of crime are undoubtedly constructed in the public realm and later reconstructed in TCDs. In this way, my research builds on studies of popular culture and cultural memory, while taking a unique step forward in true crime

The manner in which mainstream media depicts various aspects of American life has a correspond effect on how these events are perceived by the American public. When isolated media events are sensationalized, these depictions can result in misperceptions and fear, especially when they involve issues that have personal implications for viewers such as crime. To gain some fresh insights into these issues, this paper examines how CNN covers crime in its productions such as "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer as well as its other productions. A review of the relevant literature concerning these issues from a criminological perspective is followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

In what ways does the media misrepresent the nature of crime? Media happens to provide important sources of information for people that go beyond their personal experiences and has a huge impact on public debate and decision making. However, it has a very distorting and limited representation of the subject of crime and can very often misrepresent its nature. Media and “television [news] is often the primary source of values, agendas and perspectives and helps to shape the meaning of crime and criminality for the public” (Australian Psychological Society Ltd, 2000, p. 1) and the crimes the media decides to report on and how they present the news on these crimes can influence the public’s perception of crime around them.

The media plays the role as entertaining and a source of information to its viewers, however, with the current crime trends, most viewers have the perceptions that our criminal justice system is lacking in areas of proper sentencing and protecting the viewers. All this is based upon what we see in the media is the information reliable or not? I say this because of hearing about news personality lying about their experience only to booster the networks rating. When the criminal justice system has contact with the media, most will withhold information or give misleading information to justify the capture or conviction of a criminal. So not only are we questioning the efficacy of the criminal justice system but the media as well.

Media's Representation of the Nature and Extent of Crime in Britain There is continuous debate on the effectiveness of media reporting with regards to informing the public about crime. The media have motive, methods by, which they distort information, and evidence of the affects of their misinforming the public. However the media do inform the public with regards to problems in our society, without the media we would know nothing. The public also need to be thought of when trying to decipher whether the media does in fact misinform them.

The prevalence of crime is a substantial part of society. As a result, the development of punishment has been essential in contributing to social order. Despite extensive research conducted into the ideals surrounding crime and punishment, this research does not act as a solely relied upon source of information for society.

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

The public depends on the news media for its understanding of crime. Reportedly three quarters (76%) of the public say, they form their opinions about crime from what they see or read in the news (Dorfman & Schiraldi, 2001). After reviewing five hours of reality crime television shows, one is left with a very dismal look on society and a prejudice towards minorities as they are largely depicted as the perpetrators of crime. This new genre commonly referred to as reality television appears to be sweeping the nation by storm. Opinions vary, depending on whom you ask, to what extent reality plays a role versus the selling of a product. Sensationalism, advertising, ratings hype, profiling and fear all comprise the mass

The importance given to certain crimes in the daily newspapers and other media sources shows us proof to the fact that crime is a topic that has the public’s interest and is a focus of their worries (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001). It goes on to discuss the fact that crime as reported on by the media increases the public’s levels of fears and that there is little or no correlation to actual levels of violent crime in our society today.

The rapidly changing world has given the true crime genre ample opportunity to thrive, allowing it to now be one of the most popular genres worldwide. This has not only been because the world has become more connected digitally, allowing word of shows within the genre to be spread in a more timely manner, but the attitudes within society are changing too. Dr. John Huber, a clinical forensic psychologist believes that “as a society, we've been desensitized to violence and sex, and continually need to push the limits to keep our attention.” The true crime genre meets this need as the idea that 'truth is stranger than fiction' has become a common belief for many, resulting in the outlook that a human being in the act of violence is quite spontaneous and truly creative. The nature of this genre also has the power to shine a light on the flaws within the criminal justice system, and in particular, the American justice system.