Media Influence on the Society Fear - Coursework Example

Media Influence on the Society Fear The media has influenced public awareness on crime and justice since most of people in the society largely depend on media for news and updates of what is happening in the state. However, most of these updates cover about the occurrence of violence all over the world. Therefore, the media has served as the source of fear of crime andcorrective attitude towards fear on public. Moreover, Individuals in society are highlyinfluenced by crime and injustice from the films, books, newspapers, magazines and television broadcasts. The media has influenced the fear of crime and injustice such that through every day discussion, we alwaysengageourselves in crime discussion. This is because media play a vital role in the creation of how we are concerned with the happenings in our society.The Public’s evaluation of victims of crime scenes and criminals is greatly influenced by how they are portrayed in the mass. Mass Media influence on Fear of Crime by Crime Shows The public is highly influenced by how the media cover and report sensitive patriotic and violent crime. For example, if the media often cover and report issues about the crime, the public develops the perception that there is increased incidence of crime in the nation. Regular viewing of television violence leads to fear to those who are viewing compared tothose actually experiencing the violence. Most people who spend most of their time watching television or listening to radio are likely to be exposed to greater fear of crime compared to those who spend less time following the media. Therefore, these viewers conclude that crime is more rampant such that it can even reach to wherever they are than it is actually being. They end up taking more caution against crime because they develop the perception that crime portrayed in the television is significantly more violent, indiscriminate and unsafe than actually the situation of crime is present in the real world. Research shows that television viewers internalizethese images and formfictions or scary images of reality. The viewer’s perception is characterized by images of fictions and they always fantasize on what they regularly watch in films and televisions (Surette 540-548) The relationship between media presentation and crime is dependent on characteristic of the messagethat the media portray to the audience. For example, increased coverage of high number of local crime news causes increased fear among the large public (Liskaand Baccagglini 138-142). On the other hand, the residents of a high crimes area live in fear of crime due to their more experience on the crime happening in their areas.Viewers of crime stories aremostly affected by the fear and harassmentof the victims of crime. Those settled in the urban areas experience more fear of crime caused by the mass media because they often spend most of their time watching television compared to rural residents who spend most of their time working in their farming fields. Another vital aspect is whether the audience has direct casualty experience or share characteristic with the victims of crime. Media sources will be more meaningful to the society when direct experience they get from the public does not affect the public negatively (Gunter 267-270). There is also the indication that the media through the coverage of tough issues such as sexual assault and murder impact more fear to the listeners and viewerscompared with minor issues involving less crime that are covered by the media. Therefore, media influences public to make crime choices from the mentality the have that is created in them by the media. Although viewing the television is intended to have pleasure to the viewers, it fails to has a direct, considerable effect on fear of crime especially when brings programs showing crimes. As a result of increased fear of crime by mass media to the public, we can observe that public fear and anxiety for crime is inseparable with the public pressure resulting from mass media and aim for the solutions to crime problems.When news from the media appear urgent covering about crime,they control a negatively and ineffectual perception of the viewer and hence can influence fear factor in him or her.Moreover, frequent viewing and more enjoyment of reality-based crime shows through the media hold acorrectiveinsolence while frequent and more enjoyment of fictional crime shows are not related to holding correctiveinsolences and it contributes to punitive attitude (Surette, 1998). Public Perception on Law Enforcers In a normal situation, public attitude towards police is generally positive. However, a few studies show that the media has a certain level of influence on public rating of police effectiveness. For example, media portray law enforcers to be deployed in a crime scene or as maintenance of law and order where there is crime. Fictional television dramas such as a movie portrays police as heroic, professional crime fighters through exaggerate number of offenses that result in arrest. These exaggerated numbers of the offences has an influence to movie viewers and views the real society is subjected to many crimes through the fiction view of many offences that result to arrest in the movie. On the other hand, increase deployment of police is symbolized with the increased rate of crimes and law enforcers are there to provide security a notion that is developed by the public on matters concerning crime. Unfortunately, increase deployment of police in an area for another purpose will not chance the public believe that police will always symbolize maintaining law and order and provide security against occurrence of a criminal act. On the other hand, through numerous crime shows presented by the media focusing on different aspect of the criminal justice system has a negative image on the public as they view criminal justice system as a way to curb crimes in the society. For example, the media can bring a program on crime shows that may focus on law enforcer’s deals with criminals. When a viewer watches such program, he or she ends up with a mentality that in real life, police, courts, private investigators and defense lawyer represents crime while in the real case may represents rehabilitation. Additionally, some shows in television are more realistic while other often portrays violence that has a negative impact on the public by consistently misinforming viewers about the nature of the criminal justice and criminality. The weakness with the media is that it does not have a way to determine what type of program the viewer is watching such as movies that we often watch have a great negative impact on the viewer attitude on the type of the movie. For example, watching action movies has a fiction implication on the perception of the viewer where he views the society as full of crime actions while in the real world, there may be no high rate of crime. On the other hand, some viewer develop an imitating habit from the characters in the movie such hat they are attempted to put in practice what they have viewed and learnt from the movie in the real world. As a result, there is an increased rate of crime incidences in the society. Moreover, the way information is covered in the newspaper by the media publication influences the reader’s attitude towards crime. For example, placing pictures and bolding writing on crime on the first page of the newspaper create a negative picture about crime on the mind of the readers. The intention of the media may be to have more sales on the newspaper by influencing the attention of most readers but in the real sense, it increases the public fear towards crime incidences. Therefore, the media’s naïve suggestion that it crime shows causes no impact on a negative way to the society acts as the most influencing factor towards public view about crime. The media has developed motivation to cover information in a deep way; therefore, the media covers every bit of the occurrence including brutal murder. When such reports covered by the media shows on television where the viewer’smay include young children, it affects the children psychology such that they develop phobia towards crime. On the other hand, the offenders are always viewed as psychopaths that target on weaknesses and vulnerability of victims. They are therefore, portrayed as insightful, cruel and fierce. This creates fear to the viewers and increases their negative attitude towards crime. Although many television program viewers on crime shows watches and become interested to the programs involving justice process, they are unlikely to understand motivations and causes of criminal behavior. This is because crimes shows rarely focuses on justifying issues of criminal behavior and are unlikely to portray offenders in a kind or even realistic approach (Surette, 218-223). Persistence and Emphases of News Covered by the Media Mass media play an important role in informing the society about the occurrence of crimes especially those that involve most violence and serious variety. How media treat crime is a factor that has involved great contribution on impacting fear to the members of the society. There are explanations that the motive of the mass media to make the coverage more interesting to the viewers and readers is the main factor that encourages the media to distort information and adds some information that has great deep feeling the viewers and readers for their personal gains.This distortion of message that reach the audience also distort their beliefs especially toward how the view crime. For example, it increases their fear of crime and feels insecure. On the other hand, when a viewer who had once been a victim to the crime incidence views the offenders of the crime such as a brutal murder, he or she develops fear because the media covering such crime incidence remained the victim on what happened to his or her life in the past. Therefore, the viewer feels insecure and has the mentality that the same crime act can happen again to him or her (Martin 567-570). Public Chaos The media coverage on crime incidences on the people vulnerability to the crime in the society influence the feeling of insecurity ranging from one individual to another in the society. The media may cover an incidence of crime that happens in a community in a distorted way such that it often repeats the crime action through the television, newspaper or radio. Such regular repetition of the crime influences the community attitude towards crime such that people in the community feel insecure. The fear can persist and cause the community to have an attitude that whenever a small incidence of crime probe to happen, they form social groups to demonstrate to the government failure to offer security to the people in the community. The environment of insecurity in the community may also cause intense fear to the people in the society such that they are unable to perform their daily chores hence hindering the working spirit of the people in the society. On the other hand, presence of stranger in the community increases the people’s fear since there is no trustworthy among the people in the community. Strangers may not be appreciatedin the society or may even be mistreated. Fear of Crime by use of Books and Robbery Media can cause fear to people in the society by shows of books about robberies. Since the media through the journalists who are all over spread in the society covers every incidence of crime that happens in the society creates the motivation of the journalists but in real sense the increases rate of robberies, create fear to the society towards their security and the security of their properties. This is because the people feel insecure and the prevalence robberies incidence showed in the television as a book program about robbery regularly continues to cause more fear to the members of the society. On the other hand, those watching these shows books on robbery in through the media may influence some of the viewers to practice robbery activities. As a result, there is increased rate of robberies in the society and people’s fear on the crime involving robbery is intensified. Moreover, a horror movie intensifies the fear on viewers as some of these horror movies use ghosts and other horrible characters. As a result, the viewer’s fear on the supernatural beings is increased and some of the viewer’s goes to the extent of fantasizing with these horror movies and end up developing phobia towards people since they symbolizes real people with the supernatural being the saw in the horror movies (Chiricos 755-785). In conclusion, there are speculations that the majority of the public’s knowledge about crime and injustice is developed through media use. As a result, the media influences the public attitude such that, the media interest to cover interesting report to the viewers and readers causes the media to sometime distort the report. Consequently, distortion of these reports causes a negative respond to the public such that if influences the degree of the incidence of fear of the public towards crime. Although there are limitations within the data set and the findings, regular viewing of the media crime showsinfluences fear of crime prevailing in the society today. Works Cited Baumer, T.L. 1978. “Research on Fear of Crime in the United States.” New York: Journal of American Criminality, (1999). Baccaglini and Liska.Television and Attitudes about Crime. New York: Journal of American Retributive Justice, (2004). Brillon, Y. Victimization and Fear among the Elderly. Toronto: Butterworth’s Press. (1990). Print Christensen, J.Surette. The Selling of the Police: Media.New York: Ideology and Crime Control publishers, (1998). Print Chiricos, T. Martin. Fear, TV News, and the Reality of Crime. Harvard: Harvard Press, (2000). Print Chiricos, T. and M. Gertz.Crime, News and Fear of Crime: Toward an Identification of Audience Effects. Toronto: Toronto Press. (1997). Print Doob, A.Martin-Barbero. “The Many Realities of Crime.”New York: journal on Criminal Law. (1995). Doob. A. and Robert.Television Viewing and Fear of Victimization.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (1990). Gunter, Dominick, J.R. “Crime and Law Enforcement in the Mass Media.”London: Cambridge University Press. (1978). print: 105-128. Read More