Police Brutality In The Film: Race And The Press

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Race and The Press Race has always been a delicate topic in America especially in light of recent police brutality incidents and deteriorating relations in the United States between People of Color(POC) and Caucasians after President Trump’s recent election. Journalism, especially the news, is a powerful and influential medium when it comes to the portrayal of a race as it shapes our perception. This can be seen in the movie “The Paper” when two young black men are suspected of a double murder just for walking by the crime scene and are then taken into custody and held with no evidence. Various networks frame the murder and the arrests as a racially motivated. “The Paper” shows the importance and impact the press can have on how race relation …show more content…
The film focuses on the importance of correctly portray an ethnicity in relation to a story and how it drastically outweighs any financial gain that could be received. Clark wanted to go with the “Gotcha!” title that framed the teens as guilty while Hackett was determined to report the whole truth of how the death of the salarymen was linked to the mafia instead of it being racially motivated. One of the Society of Professional Journalist (SPJ) code of ethics expresses, “Balance a suspect’s right to a fair trial with the public’s right to know. Consider the implications of identifying criminal suspects before they face legal charges.” McDougal, a columnist, points this out to Alicia after hearing from the Police that the teens are innocent where he states, ”No, we're not. We run stupid headlines because we think they're funny. We run maimings on the front page because we got good art. And I spend three weeks b*tching about my car because it sells papers. But at least it's the truth. As far as I can remember we never ever, ever knowingly got a story wrong, until tonight.” The decision Alicia initially had chosen prompts the question of how much is a life worth. Murder with a firearm has a minimum of 25 years in prison with a maximum of life

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