It is often argued that in the case of crime news, journalists fail to show a factual representation of the world out there. Instead, they promote and reproduce the interests and agendas of official sources and institutions. Do you agree with this statement? Support your answer with theoretical evidence from the relevant literature.
The current society all over the globe nowadays is fascinated with crime and justice which provides specific relation with the mass media. In that case, the mass media is the whole point of having a relationship with the crime. That is the reason; mass media is the source that keeps their focus on delivering the news by targeting the public. For that reason, journalist forms the mediator way through which the news gets delivered to the public That is the reason, it is very essential to carry out the study of the relation of the effects that mass media have on crime and justice (Boateng, 2016).
With the result of which there will have a depiction of the scenario that picturizes the consumption of the media to match with the attitudes of crime. Therefore the essay is picturized with the scenario that reveals the fact that media or journalists always fail to picturise the factual representation of the case scenario of the outside world. As per Byrne Evans et al, instead of that it pays attention more attention to promoting the agendas that turn in favor of the official sources and the institutions (Byrne Evans et al., 2013). The essay, therefore, gives some sources that provide support for the raised context about the function of mass media or the journalist concerning crime news.
The media source or the journalists are the mainstream of the messages that the public daily gets in their day-to-day lives. Apart from the journalists the other alternative sources of the media, i.e…….., social media, and weblogs, constitute a large part through which the public gets aware of the events specifically any type of criminal activities occurring in society. Said that through this way the public are getting aware of the news directly or indirectly. Due to this reason, the media sources are no doubt getting more and more emphasis by forming the main source of all the news occurring outside (Chibnall, 2013).
The specific part of the important part that is covered by the media or the journalists is crime news. The crime feedback is the vital part that comes under the part of the criminal reporter or the crime journalist who keeps a post record of how the criminal activity is carried out. Desmond, Papachristos & Kirk said that Apart from that the media in the current condition is striving strongly for strong business due to the ongoing financial crisis. In that case, the media coverage is of a few particular types that represent the coverage of criminal activity (Desmond, Papachristos & Kirk, 2016). Later it also shows different types of coverage that the journalists carry out to figure out the criminal activity. These are the coverage through the national media, local media, web-based, hard news, soft news, and editorials. Goff, Epstein & Reddy said that All these coverage are having their specific types of coverage depending sensitivity of the news. For example, the national media generally takes the coverage of the news that is happening about matters related to the nation. Similarly, the local media gets the coverage of the specific news activities that are confined to a particular area. Likewise, the hard news delivers such criminal news feeds that are too sensitive and they must be delivered within a stipulated period (Goff, Epstein & Reddy, 2013).
Therefore in other words the most sensitive and serious criminal cases come under the activity of these hard news. Hoefnagel, Oerlemans & Goedee said in contrary to that the soft news makes the delicacy that these crime news are not specifically time sensitive and they are there to provide the news regarding the depth of a victim (Hoefnagel, Oerlemans & Goedee, 2014). In that scenario, the editorials are the news feed that provides more depth information or their views regarding the scenario of the case. In that situation, the editorials also can raise a question for the judges.
Out of all these the last as per the current situation, the important media part is social media, i.e…….., Twitter, Facebook, etc., which pay attention to the sharing of the news at a rapid pace. Through this base, the fact of the case is very rapidly getting pace with their distribution that further gets base to get justice (Lohan & Singh, 2016). That is the reason, by acquiring this sort of media the news can get readily spread to the public before reaching out to the newspapers or any sort of hard information. Therefore criminal activities can be figured out by journalists or media people in several ways.
According to Leggett, after considering all these cases it is quite clear that the journalists or the media collect their information from particular sources or by going through a keen investigation of the methods. In most instances, the service workers appointed for the victim of the criminal case have to confront the media personnel through which the media can get the news feed (Leggett, 2016). Those service workers generally deal with the media directly or indirectly. In the whole process, those service workers also must be aware of the working procedure of the media and as per that condition, they must take out the facts in front of the media.
The facts that the media get from near sources like the service workers must be utilized with utmost sincerity so that this will lead to justice. It is just because the media have a special power to make the voice rise through which the public can also be swayed. And along with that the intensity of the news coverage by the media provides the whole information that can further shape and in some cases manipulate the opinion of the public. Therefore it is a must to get the correct news feed that what the media or the journalist is producing in regards to the facts of a particular crime. As per Machin & Mayr, it is just because this reason can become the whole perception or can become a reason that can influence the perception of the public about that particular crime. Therefore it is very essential to get a clear picture of the whole case along with the clear and relevant facts for the case in which it has happened (Machin & Mayr, 2013). Depending upon these it will be helpful for the public as well as the judiciary people to formulate their decision and in making justice to the innocent and providing punishment to the culprit.
Due to this reason, the real and essential facts regarding the criminal case must be known or must be out by the media persons or the journalists. Pettitt et al. said that the media works as a very critical and powerful source that helps in transmitting relevant information to the public which forms a source for justice. Due to this reason, the facts shown by the media sources must be logical and relevant. The media is majorly formulated to carry out the public service but gradually the people involved in this scenario made it a platform for business (Pettitt et al., 2013). And about that crime is such a part or function that has great significance when comes to the boundary of media. As media is the base through which the public gets aware of the news feed happening across the globe, so in the media also pays attention to selecting the stories to intrigue the audience. But in this process of intriguing the audience, the thing or the situation with which they end up is the feeling of fear, anxiety, and distrust within the audience.
With such activities, the media turns out to be the essential factor in changing the perception of the public. This type of activity of media is very well known to folks all over the globe. White & Makki said they pay more attention to the growth of the business. Due to that reason, they result in the manipulation of the news feed so that they can make the audience quite more interested in the case (White & Makki, 2016). The media makes its story selection as per the case scenario based on the news feed extracted from the sources. But during the delivery of those facts, they get manipulated which raises a question over its authenticity. However, the authenticity of those facts is kept secret by the media persons.
With this activity, the media or the journalists make the wrong conceptualization or representation of the facts in front of the public. As a result of which the media not only changes the perception of the public but also motivates the crime case in the wrong direction. In this way, the media which is formulated to serve the public starts supporting the power. Weiss, Addington & Nolan said that the power in this instance is meant for the official sources or the institutions. It is because the depiction of the case scenario by the media makes deviation from the direction of the case (Weiss, Addington & Nolan, 2016). The deviation of the direction of the crime case by the journalists will initiate the promotion of the invisible interests of the sources or the institutions. In some instances, the police or other judiciaries also have contributed to altering the representation of the facts. Some of the cases show that the police also does not provide much information regarding the case as it has the responsibility of protecting and defending the citizen of the nation. At the same time, the media also possess a responsibility to deliver the correct information to the public.
Due to this sometimes the police and the media face a lot of clashes just because the police sometimes pay their unwillingness towards sharing the information with the media. In that situation, the media also puts focus on its business due to which it selects a storyline similar to the facts as they are having few facts relating to the crime. Xie said the storyline they selected represented the manipulated fact and are delivered to the public. But while seeing towards the other side if the police and the media will pay attention to aligning their purpose of work then they both can be proved as an effective alliance (Xie, 2014). But irrespective of that they both are carrying out their services in a different direction with different interests. The most important fact that relates to the concept of the question raised in this essay is the symbiotic mutual relationship between the sources and the media. The building of a relationship between the media and the sources makes the manifestation of the facts provided by the evidence of the case.
While doing the investigation the journalists must go through the details of the crime case. Again the journalists investigating the case should notice every bit of the case rather than just going through the superficial part of the case (Xie, 2014). The result of this formulates a conclusion depending upon the superficial facts obtained from the case. And along with that, the journalists make the scenario in such a way that will take the case in a direction favorable to the institution.
For example in any instance if there occurs any type of case in which educational institutions or any type of health care institutes are involved then there will be the media represents the matter in such a way that the major fact showing the fault of the institution or the organization gets suppressed (Pettitt et al., 2013). At that time there emerges the new point of view of the case which shows the other perspective or opinion of the organization in the particular crime case. In this way, the crime case gets manipulated and the direction of the case gets reversed by making the official sources or the institution involved in it not responsible for the act. This scenario of the working style of the media or the journalists very well shows that the journalists or the media have heavy interference in manipulating or manifesting the facts related to the crime case during the representation.
Such scenarios are depicted in some of the literature described below which shows how the media or the journalist help in the promotion of the interests of the official sources or the institutions involved in the crime. Such a thing is very well depicted in the case scenario of the case study of the Paddington Rail Crash. Lohan & Singh, that they studied in-depth the accident caused by the situation. Further as per the situation the paper assessed the corporate negligence that led to the death of 31 people in the Paddington rail crash (Lohan & Singh, 2016). The news feed regarding the report of this accident provided a typical disaster report showing less attention to corporate responsibility. It, therefore, depicts the situation where it has been said what has been done and what to be done. In between these questions, the situation is not very clear which shows some sort of criminality in it.
Due to this reason, the situation became complicated and the media missed a good story that was not at all newsworthy. After this, the media took a serious step to find out the storyline that got linked up with the corporate crime stories raising the interest of the public. This action of the media took the case in a different direction by modifying the situation and misrepresenting the crimes of powerful corporations. As per Lohan & Singh, the misrepresentation of the case towards the attention of the emotional reactions in place of the actual analysis of the case scenario (Lohan & Singh, 2016). Similarly, the other resources provide the news that provides the sequential scenario of how is the relationship between the power and the media. In that, it is very clear that the media gets influenced by power and forms a symbiotic relationship with the power which resulted in the deviation of a factual representation of the facts representing the truth in the crime case.
With this, the resultant came out of the scenario conveying that the activity of the symbiotic relationship affects the status of the public mind. The public perception in terms of the crime case deviates from the direction of the public. Along with that social media also plays an important role indirectly showing the power of the media. Some other researches also show the fact that shows the concept of criminalization. In this analysis there occurs the media analysis of the situation in which the criminalization of the society is depicted. It also pays emphasis on the criminalization of society performed by social construction. Along with that, it pays attention to the approaches through which the media can be able to analyze criminalization making a short description of the problems and possibilities (Desmond, Papachristos & Kirk, 2016). The other articles available in terms to provide the basic knowledge directly communicates that the media alters the mind of the people of the society in formulating the perception of crime. This theory they carry out by going through keen research on the people along with the criminal justice from the Portland State University.
After the research, the author comes to the conclusion which says that it is very usual to have changes in behavior after going through criminal approaches. The cases here studied are of various types (Lohan & Singh, 2016). The scenario of the victimization makes up for the underlying causes of the crime which in many instances are deviated by the unreal news feed of media. Also, the study shows some involvement of the police which are not providing clear information in terms of the safety and protection of the victim.
That is the reason going through all the possible sources it is much clear that the journalists or the media personnel are involved in making the news feed as per their requirement as they are making more emphasis upon their business rather than providing service to the public. It is very well known from the above section that the media is formulated to serve the public and to bring justice to society (Goff, Epstein & Reddy, 2013). But in the current scenario, it is going in the reverse direction by making the manipulation of the factual representation of the crime case that eventually supports and promotes the interests of the official sources and the institutions.
References
Boateng, F.D., 2016. Crime Reporting Behavior Do Attitudes Toward the Police Matter? Journal of interpersonal violence, p.0886260516632356.
Byrne Evans, M., O’Hara, K., Tiropanis, T. and Webber, C., 2013, May. Crime applications and social machines: crowdsourcing sensitive data. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on World Wide Web (pp. 891-896). ACM.
Chibnall, S., 2013. Law-and-order news: An analysis of crime reporting in the British press (Vol. 2). Routledge.
Desmond, M., Papachristos, A.V. and Kirk, D.S., 2016. Police Violence and Citizen Crime Reporting in the Black Community. American Sociological Review, 81(5), pp.857-876.
Goff, P.A., Epstein, L.M. and Reddy, K.S., 2013. Crossing the line of legitimacy: The impact of cross-deputization policy on crime reporting. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 19(2), p.250.
Hoefnagel, R., Oerlemans, L. and Goedee, J., 2014. How anchoring and adjusting influence citizens’ acceptance of video-mediated crime reporting: A narrative approach. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(4), pp.305-322.
Lohan, R. and Singh, M., 2016. An Online Crime Reporting System. Global Journal For Research Analysis, 4(6).
Leggett, T., 2016. IMPROVED CRIME REPORTING: Is South Africa’s crime wave a statistical illusion? South African Crime Quarterly, (1).
Machin, D. and Mayr, A., 2013. Corporate crime and the discursive deletion of responsibility: A case study of the Paddington rail crash. Crime, media, culture, 9(1), pp.63-82.
Pettitt, B., Greenhead, S., Khalifeh, H., Drennan, V., Hart, T., Hogg, J., Borschmann, R., Mamo, E. and Moran, P., 2013. At risk, yet dismissed: the criminal victimization of people with mental health problems.
White, P.R.R. and Makki, M., 2016. Crime reporting as storytelling in Persian/Farsi news journalism–perspectives on the narrative function. Journal of World Languages, pp.1-22.
Weiss, K.G., Addington, L.A. and Nolan, J.J., 2016. Discretion and the Sex Dyad: Exploring the Interactive Effects of Offender and Victim Sex on Reporting and Arrest of One-on-One Assaultive Crime. Women & Criminal Justice, pp.1-18.
Xie, M., 2014. Area differences and time trends in crime reporting: Comparing New York with other metropolitan areas. Justice Quarterly, 31(1), pp.43-73.
