Olivia Roman
lr330519@ohio.edu
A journalist's most important job is to inform the public what they need to know. That is not merely to educate them on a subject but to help prevent an action or force an action that could benefit the matter at hand.
When it comes to crime, journalists and their audience's position on whether this coverage is harming or protecting us is a very controversial discussion.
 |
Crime Coverage:
Crime coverage can include reporting on mass shootings, school shootings, local crime reports, etc. News outlets often cover these violent occurrences and widely spread them in great detail.
Some believe that crime is a matter that the public must be aware of for their safety, and some believe that it can contribute to more violence and harm. It all comes down to how the crime is being covered.
On dox.wixstatic.com, they acknowledge that how you report on crimes and violence can impact others significantly. They suggest avoiding reporting that propagates the stereotype that mental health is automatically related to the reason for one committing a crime.
They mention other strategies, such as refraining from over-using the perpetrators' photos and decreasing coverage that may spotlight the perpetrator to prevent others from being inspired by them and to remain sensitive to the victim and victims' families while conducting interviews.
How it can protect us:
Learning about crime in our surrounding communities and world, in general, can help advocate the urgency for a change to take place. If not many people are made aware of mass shootings that target a specific minority group, for example, no one would be able to help with supporting that group and help in efforts to prevent it from happening again.
Crime coverage helps us protect ourselves and family by learning how frequent a specific crime may be and what actions we can take to prevent it from happening to our loved ones and us. Identifying a perpetrator can also help in situations when they may have escaped from imprisonment, etc.
How it can harm us:
Experts have brought up something called the media contagion effect. That is when others become inspired to copy a crime by being made aware of another criminal's actions.
Although we may say that sharing the identity of a criminal can help others stay safe by knowing their name, what they look like, and other important information that may help protect people and their families, it can do the opposite.
The media tends to put a significant emphasis on not the crime itself but the criminal. So, for example, a shooter gets enormous attention, and their photo, name, and whole life are put on blast for millions to read and listen to.
Some, who may already have the same motivations as a criminal, may look up to this person as a hero and consider them famous. On center4research.org, they call this a copycat shooting since the potential shooter may start to look up to a figure like this and try to outdo them and kill more people.
That can be the same with events. Since the first school shooting in America, there has been a significant increase in this crime. With every school, shooting comes more and more, and the same goes for the media coverage of these events.
Other factors:
It also is prevalent that coverage of harmful acts can be highly in-accurate, as covering breaking news has become very competitive within the media industry and requires strict deadlines.
According to Andrew Smith on poynter.org, "at the same time, though, I think the tolerance for thinly sourced, incompletely reported stories has increased to accommodate that appetite for stories."
When looking at the bigger picture, after processing all these different factors of whether covering crime harms or protects us, either argument can be backed up with sufficient evidence.
It is doubtful that we will ever stop reporting on crime. The more realistic solution is to improve the way we cover it to avoid the harmful effects that have been mentioned above, as more experts are starting to dig them up.
No comments:
Post a Comment