Media In American Culture Essay

Great Essays
Media is extremely important to American culture. It is truly a feat to go through a day and not be exposed to any of the four types of media. The four types of media are print, sound, visual, and new media which includes the internet and electronic media. We constantly look to media to inform us of what is happening in our everyday lives and to entertain us. Media, specifically television, provides escapism. Many individuals use television shows as a kind of immersive past time where they can escape from the realities of their everyday lives. It is important to understand that while we consume media we also consume the narratives and social constructs that the media promotes. Many people do not actually have personal experience with the criminal justice system and rely on news and television series, such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent (LOCI), to …show more content…
When we are exposed in the media to expert detectives who can solve every case, as Goren and Eames do, but our actual detectives and police officers have very low clearance rates it can erode the relationship between the public and the police force. The public begins to feel less confident in the police which may lead to the social construction of the faulty criminal justice frame. The faulty criminal justice frame is based on the idea that our criminal justice system is unable to proficiently solve crime and deliver justice. I believe we need more accurate portrayals of our criminal justice system in the media that showcase more realistic clearance rates, mentally ill people being victims instead of perpetrators, and less popularization of genius detectives as the norm. This may be less entertaining in some aspects, but it would be more accurate and could potentially help repair the public’s opinions of law

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    In 1976, A. L. Guenther put forth the notion that our criminal justice system is “unfair, harsh, and biased,” as well as saying that we have a criminal processing system and not a criminal justice system. While these statements may have been made four decades ago, they still ring true today. I agree with Guenther’s comments, as our criminal justice system is unfair to the offenders they deal with, carries out harsh penalties on these members of society, and is biased to different groups over the history of America. Offenders are usually treated like statistics, not like members of society.…

    • 1708 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The term crime cannot be defined easily because it does not have one definition nor two; crime is a concept. Moreover, crime is based on a general notion of ideals formed by society, according to time and place (Friedman, 1993, 6). Society does not imply all individuals, the rich and powerful create the laws that compose certain acts as a crime and are then enforced by law enforcement (Friedman, 1993, 10). Thus, giving law enforcement control and power over all individuals. Their job is to protect and serve within their community.…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The definition of media is any format or platform that carries, presents, or communicates information, so everything surrounding us would be considered media. A certain type of media that I will relate back to sociology would be a television show titled One Tree Hill. The show is based around different high school kids and how the love of basketball and the love of the players makes them come together. The show itself, is centered around two half-brothers and how one is considered an outcast, Lucas and the other is considered royalty, Nathan. When Lucas makes the basketball team, Nathan isn't exactly his greatest fan in fact Lucas goes through a round of bullying before he is finally accepted onto the team.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The two main public anxieties about the media are that they are subversive and that they are a subtle form of social control, they are also a source of misinterpretation and exaggeration.” (Reiner: 2007). The worst aspects of the mass media’s coverage of crime is that they primarily base their focus around the method of ‘newsworthiness’ which is completely biased. Instead of broadcasting what is important around the world they choose to broadcast what they determine would grasp the most attention. Eight “professional imperatives” were identified as implicit guides to the development of news stories, they were: Immediacy, Dramatisation, Personalisation, Simplification, Titillation, Conventionalism, Structured access and Novelty.…

    • 1622 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As crime rates have continued to decline, especially in the recent years, criminal justice policy continues increase, therefore, leading to new social problems, such as a growth in the prison population, increased expenditures, and lengthier prison sentences. Over these decades, however, there clearly has been a cause for concern about the lack of accountability and evidence based practice in criminal justice policy in which is needed in order to justify these new social problems and the significant increases in the criminal justice system. Despite these calls for greater accountability and evidence based policy, a large gap continues to remain between these ideals and the realization of them (Mears, 2010). Evidently, these issues are in…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Evidence Based Ethics

    • 1076 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Criminal Justice The field of Criminal Justice is an ever-changing discipline that has recently swelled in importance within the United States. This is most likely due in fact to our alarmingly high recidivism and incarceration rate, which is currently towering above the rest of the countries of the world. With a problem of such a magnitude comes a multiplitude of solutions, each of which have varied from decade to decade. Until recently however, these solutions were typically designed to disregard the individual in favor of a more unilateral, streamlined process, which attempted to alleviate the pressure on the bloated Criminal Justice System, at the cost of the individual.…

    • 1076 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Media Autobiography Essay

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Media Autobiography: Chelsea Guy It is easy to take for granted the level of influence that media has on your life as it becomes engrossed in your daily activities. Sometimes we may not even realize how the media contributes to the way we speak, dress, act, and interact with others. Mass media refers to any means of communication that reach relatively large sums of people. Some examples of Mass media include television, movies, music, internet, books, newspapers, and social networks.…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his article “The Human Face of Overcriminalization” (2016), Derrick Hollie argues that the United States criminal justice system is wildly subjective and is most of the time unfair. Hollie uses tone, anecdotes, and pathos to sufficiently argue against overcriminalization. Hollie’s goal with his editorial is to convince the public that overcriminalization is prevalent in our society in order to hopefully fix this issue. The audience intended to be reached by this editorial is all American citizens affected by the American government.…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For many Canadians, the media is their primary source of information related to events and occurrences that may be taking place within their community. As a primary source, the media holds significant weight in relation to the development of perceptions and understandings of both current and past events. These perceptions, while at times seemingly innocuous, can be uncritical or far-removed from the reality of the events as they exist outside of the framing of media depictions. Media depictions of crime, criminality and the criminal justice system, can, and often do, set the foundation for the development of understandings that are inconsistent with the experiences of those who are directly involved—in a professional capacity—with the Canadian criminal justice system. Consequently, these distorted, or perhaps more accurately, misinformed understandings, can lead to the development of myths that are perpetuated at the social and political level.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mass Media Incarceration

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The over reliance on incarceration has cost the criminal justice system billions of dollars and often is not the best way to handle offenders. However legislation that promotes prevention and treatment does not get passed due to the role that mass media plays in this country. Mass media largely reports on topics that garner the highest number of views, as it is a business that runs on money. As a result of this the media often over exaggerate problems, which than causes a misunderstanding with the audience (Chiricos, 2013). It is this misunderstanding in which that politicians run on and is ultimately the reason that the criminal justice system continues to rely on legislature that places more people in prison.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Csi Effect Myth

    • 2213 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The jury system in America can be viewed as a cornerstone of American democracy. It is the only place within the Criminal Justice System where the average American can participate without any legal experience or expertise. As Americans, there is a reliance on jurors to make fair, unbiased and relatively quick decisions (Cole and Dioso-Villa 2007). Since the early 2000s, the media has propagated the myth that television shows like CSI, which use forensic science, have created a “CSI Effect.” If this CSI Effect were true, it would dismantle the jury system and create real questions concerning the reliability of the decision making process.…

    • 2213 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Criminal Case Process

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Processing of a Criminal Case When processing a criminal case, the first thing that has to have happened is that some sort of a crime has allegedly been committed. Steps are taken to ensure that the guilty are brought to justice and that the innocent aren’t tried for crimes they didn’t commit. A number of professional members of law enforcement, as well as the crime scene technicians, lawyers and judges play an important role in making sure that criminals don’t get away with the breaking the law. Although the system isn’t perfect, it does allow law abiding citizens peace of mind knowing that there are those out there working to put those who deserve it behind bars.…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Media for most is a way of self expression. A way of showing our changing America and what the world looks like today. Sadly, Hollywood is not doing a very good job as showing what America truly looks like. Minority groups such as African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, and Hispanics are not represented in media and if they are shown, are portrayed in a negative way. Researchers of the University of Southern California conducted an experiment stating that of the top 100 films in 2014 73.1% of the actors and actresses were white.…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is evident that both the amount of crime and violence is significantly exaggerated. In addition, the media also render a distorted representation of who are likely to be offenders and victims, creating negative stereotypes within groups in society. Due to media outlets being the primary source of public information on these issues, it is likely that these inaccuracies are accountable for the recognisable misperceptions in society about the level and nature of…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Media Influence on Politics in the United States The media, or press, has a critical impact on the political system in the United States. Television news reaches more Americans than any other single news source. (Ginsberg) Reporters distribute information about world chaos throughout the day over the news. Over 95 percent of Americans have television.…

    • 1631 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics