Whether you’re opening up a newspaper, watching the news, or listening to the radio’s reports, you’ll be faced with headline after headline about the crime happening all around you. The purpose is to give the public access to the crime going on around them, but the question is: Do the headlines reflect reality?
The news has a tendency to raise fear in the public due to the distortion on the reality around us. If there is a murder occurring every now and then, the public will see nonstop coverage on the occasional murder over the daily petty crimes such as a teen stealing from the local mall. Why is this so? Well to be blatant murders, national scandals, and terrorist threats are a lot more interesting then littering, petty shoplifting, or the DUIs. Unless the perpetrator is a celebrity, petty crime most likely will only make the news if there is nothing else to possibly report that day. The result: an instilled fear in the public that there is more murder and big crime going on than in actuality. Here is an example of how the news can distort in order to create more entertainment: Also, the news tends to instill racial fear as well. When representing minority neighborhoods, there is often distortion that portrays these neighborhoods as dangerous and ignorant. They interview ignorant people and allow that to represent that neighborhood. This results in society looking upon minority races as criminals and ignorant as they see in the news
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Photo Cred: top cover: from http://thepoliticalbouillon.com/en/the-coverage-fits-the-crime-public-reaction-and-media-discourse-about-the-steubenville-rape-case-is-almost-as-revealingly-disturbing-as-the-acts-committed/
Infographic: created by Infobia
Video: youtube -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu_LK_iEFE8#t=75
linked images: cited on linked site
Infographic: created by Infobia
Video: youtube -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu_LK_iEFE8#t=75
linked images: cited on linked site