Is the portrayal of crime by the news media accurate?
During this assignment, I will discuss how the distorted pictures of criminality are presented to the public and how the media portray crime and how crime gets into the media.
Crime is an act that breaks the law. And a criminal is a person who has committed a crime that has broken the law and has been legally convicted of that crime.
The media plays a vital role in educating the public on what we know about crime. As we are educated about crime everyday, from what we hear on the radio, from what we see on documentaries, films and soaps. From what we see and read in the news papers and on the internet and social media such as Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, instagram and video games and much …show more content…
They also get there information from, Social networks such as You Tube, Twitter and CCTV. Which has not been truly analyised or investigated media before they publish the story. Crime has become a big part of our everyday life, as it is in the media every single day. According to Reiner (2007a) “ around a fifth of news stories and a fifth of films are about crime” . Which is a key issue to how the public view our society today. As it is commonly understood that the public believes everything the news tells them, as they automatically assume that if the information is coming from the news media, then it must be true. But majority of what we know about crime today from the media is in fact NOT always based on the truth and is NOT a true reflection on crime today. As well spoken by Jewkes “ The media is not a window on the world, but a prism subtly blending and distorting our picture of reality” (Jewkes 2004:37)
For instance the public perception on crime and criminals, is quiet contradictory and complex. As on hand one the public would portray criminals as the villain’s, anti hero’s and often see criminals as evil, devils and monsters and assume that they were born this way, because of the crimes that they have committed. And that they are just pure evil and choose this live to life. And also assume that crime is on the rise and is getting worse, particularly violent, knife and gang
During this assignment, I will discuss how the distorted pictures of criminality are presented to the public and how the media portray crime and how crime gets into the media.
Crime is an act that breaks the law. And a criminal is a person who has committed a crime that has broken the law and has been legally convicted of that crime.
The media plays a vital role in educating the public on what we know about crime. As we are educated about crime everyday, from what we hear on the radio, from what we see on documentaries, films and soaps. From what we see and read in the news papers and on the internet and social media such as Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, instagram and video games and much …show more content…
They also get there information from, Social networks such as You Tube, Twitter and CCTV. Which has not been truly analyised or investigated media before they publish the story. Crime has become a big part of our everyday life, as it is in the media every single day. According to Reiner (2007a) “ around a fifth of news stories and a fifth of films are about crime” . Which is a key issue to how the public view our society today. As it is commonly understood that the public believes everything the news tells them, as they automatically assume that if the information is coming from the news media, then it must be true. But majority of what we know about crime today from the media is in fact NOT always based on the truth and is NOT a true reflection on crime today. As well spoken by Jewkes “ The media is not a window on the world, but a prism subtly blending and distorting our picture of reality” (Jewkes 2004:37)
For instance the public perception on crime and criminals, is quiet contradictory and complex. As on hand one the public would portray criminals as the villain’s, anti hero’s and often see criminals as evil, devils and monsters and assume that they were born this way, because of the crimes that they have committed. And that they are just pure evil and choose this live to life. And also assume that crime is on the rise and is getting worse, particularly violent, knife and gang