Amanda Knox and the Media Essay

The media’s job is to entertain, inform, and educate society on what is going on around the world. The media entertains society by reporting stories that amuse people. The educational function of the media is about allowing society to know their legal rights. The informational aspect of the media does not need to be explained; it is self-explanatory. Within the last three decades, the media’s role has changed dramatically. The media went from using telegraphs, post offices, newspapers, magazines, radio, and television to using cell phones and tablets. In the modern era, which is also sometimes referred to as the information age, global networking and global communication have shaped modern societies. The majority of

Media coverage of news events can be disseminated to the general public in any number of different ways and media biases often “reflects certain organizational and/or professional preferences or values” (Bennett 2011, 173). In fact, Lundman (2003) points out “that journalists assess the newsworthiness of homicides occurrences using the relative frequency of particular types of murders and how well specific murder occurrences mesh with stereotypical race and gender typifications (357).” In addition, Johnson (2012) felt that the real job of media was to “create a message that…grabs public attention (62).” In other words, can the media grab the public’s attention and hold it?

The following criminal analysis shows why Aileen Wuornos was convicted for the murder of six men and what lead up to these actions. These actions were not in self-defense, but out of cold blood. This profile will analyze the following: what lead up to the murder of these men, what Wuornos’s intents were, the evidence and patterns, her personality and characteristics, and her behavior. These facts and evidence will show Wuornos’s intent and motive, and whether or not she was insane. This woman was not born to be a killer, but something in her life drove her to commit these horrible crimes, and this profile will analyze how exactly she did it and why.

Amanda Knox was a 20 year old from Seattle, Washington who moved to Perugia, Italy for college. She was a smart girl. She seemed to me to be very open with her life and sexuality. Her openness was later used against her by police, prosecutors, and media. The media gave her sexual nicknames, a few being: “… the promiscuous American she-devil…”, and “Foxy Knoxy” (HB xiii-xiv).

A little over a century ago an atrocious double murder was committed, in the two-half story house at 92 Second Street, in Fall River, Massachusetts. This crime shocked the city of Fall River, as well as the nation, as Lizzie Borden, a 32-year-old Sunday school teacher, went on trial for the murder of her father and her stepmother. (Augustine). An all male jury eventually acquitted her on the accusations.(Aiuto). To this day, the murderer of Andrew J. Borden and Abby Gray Borden is still unknown, but in the public mind everyone believes it was Lizzie Borden.

A notable incident of scapegoating from the U.S. is the Sacco and Vanzetti trials in the 1920s. In 1920, two men were killed in Boston and the suspects were described as Italian men. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, both Italian anarchists, were accused of the murders and sentenced to death. Although there was little evidence against these two men, during the time period there was a stigma surrounding Italians in Boston, and also a negative view of anarchists. Soon before the men were to be killed, another man and his gang confessed to the killings, however, the judge dismissed these confessions and kept the verdict. This case drew worldwide recognition and sparked protests throughout cities across the world. The two men were eventually killed on August 23, 1927. However, before the killing, Vanzetti spoke to the judge of the trial, and the speech was later published into a short story titled, “This is Our Triumph.” Vanzetti spoke, “We have proved that there could not have been another judge on the face of this earth more prejudiced and more cruel than you(the presiding judge) have been against us… Before you see us you already know that we were radicals, that we were underdogs, that we were the enemy of this institution” (Landau). This court decision scapegoated Sacco and Vanzetti because they were easy targets and people disliked their political views. However, Vanzetti revealed the flaws in the system, saying that he was targeted because he had radical views and even before the evidence was shown, he was an underdog. After Vanzetti gave this speech people began to realize he was completely innocent, but the city of Boston used him as a scapegoat for the murders because he was easy to blame. This reveals the flaws, both in the criminal justice system and the prejudice many societies have against a group of

In the book “Trace Evidence” by Bruce Henderson, this story takes place in Sacramento, California in July 1986. Six women were killed on I-5 by a murderer named Roger Kibbe. Finally, after a number of deaths committed by Roger Kibbe on I-5, he was caught and sentenced to life in jail with possible probation. Trace Evidence holds the whole order of investigation about murder and homicide of the 6 women. Every part of the investigation is explained thoroughly in this book.

On November 1st, 2007, Meredith Kercher was murdered with a knife in her apartment. She was found by Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito at 10 A.M. the next day. There are many sides to this case and very little evidence. Rudy Guede lived in the apartment under Kercher at the time of the murder. He claims that he was with Meredith when she was killed. They were hanging out in her apartment when he went to the bathroom and heard screams. He came out and claims he saw Sollecito and a silhouette that looked like Knox. Knox says she was with Sollecito at his house smoking marijuana the night of the murder. She later broke down saying she was at Kercher's house some of the night and then claimed otherwise the day after. Sollecito claimed that he was smoking marijuana at his house and his memory was so blurred that he doesn’t remember if Knox was with him or not. Out of everything that occured, Rudy Guede was sentenced with 16 years in prison for the murder of Meredith Kercher. The Amanda Knox case was a witch hunt against Rudy Guede, not only because of his race, but because Knox and Sollecito took the blame off themselves and put it on him.

Throughout history, there have been countless malicious and monstrous crimes that have left a lasting impression on society and it’s faith in mankind. The case of Casey Anthony and the 2008 murder of her 2 year old daughter, Caylee, is no exception. Due to the massive publicity and media attention surrounding this case, the trial was known worldwide and created such controversy that an unbiased eye was difficulty to be found. Caylee’s mother, Casey Anthony, went on trial on May 22, 2011 for her child’s murder. “After over 400 pieces of evidence, 33 days of testimony, and more than 90 witnesses in this trial, the jury reached a verdict of not guilty of First Degree murder.”…………… In addition, she was also found not guilty

In 1920, during the height of the Red Scare, a shoemaker, Nicola Sacco (1891-1927), and a fish peddler, Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1888-1927), were accused of robbing and murdering the paymaster and guard of a shoe company in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Known as anarchists and draft evaders, the accused men faced a hostile judge and a public convinced of their guilt. Despite Sacco 's corroborated testimony that he was at the Italian consulate in Boston at the time of the murder, the two were found guilty on the basis of witness identification and their suspicious behavior after the murder, and were sentenced to death by Judge Webster Thayer. The trial of two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, grasped the entire nation. Both men were accused of murder and robbery of a shoe factory in Braintree, Massachusetts. They were both sentenced to death for the robbery and murder even though there was insufficient evidence. Many people strongly disagreed with the verdict as they believed the men were innocent and were prosecuted because of their politics.

Right away, the case was surrounded by a large amount of controversy. For example, George’s family never gave up on maintaining his innocence. However, the families of the young girls still believe George was guilty and deserved his execution. These views

The Meredith Kercher ordeal is one that has caught the eye of many all over the world over the past few years. According to Jay Epstein, “On the night of November 1, 2007, Meredith Kercher, a twenty-one-year-old student from South London, was murdered in a cottage on the Via della Pergola in the ancient university city of Perugia in Umbria, Italy” (311). The excessive amount of blood loss, caused by “deep stab wounds in her neck” ultimately led to her death. The man convicted for her death, “in a separate “fast track” trial” was Rudy Guede (Epstein 315). Yet, evidence from case reports suggests that this was not a one man operation. This evidence indicates that Kercher’s flat mate, Amanda Knox, and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, were also possibly involved in her with Rudy Guede.

Most people use second hand information as their core source of information about crime, this source of information usually being the media. When carrying out sample research in Birmingham, Susan Smith (1984) discovered that 52% of people obtained most of their information about crime from the media, 36% obtained it from hearsay or alleged experiences of friends and neighbours, 3% from their own experiences, and 1% from the police service themselves (cited in Jones, 2001; 8). However the media tend to exaggerate upon areas of criminal activity causing a moral panic. ‘A moral panic is a semi- spontaneous or media generated mass movement based on the perception that some individual or group,

One of the most widely talked about, unsolved murder case in 1996 would have to be that of beauty queen, JonBenet Ramsey. The six-year old female was founded murdered in the basement of her home on December 26, 1996. The media circus that followed this case and the amount of mistakes that were made contributes to the fact that the case still remains unsolved. There are many guiding factors as to why the case remains unsolved.

The public depends on the news media for its understanding of crime. Reportedly three quarters (76%) of the public say, they form their opinions about crime from what they see or read in the news (Dorfman & Schiraldi, 2001). After reviewing five hours of reality crime television shows, one is left with a very dismal look on society and a prejudice towards minorities as they are largely depicted as the perpetrators of crime. This new genre commonly referred to as reality television appears to be sweeping the nation by storm. Opinions vary, depending on whom you ask, to what extent reality plays a role versus the selling of a product. Sensationalism, advertising, ratings hype, profiling and fear all comprise the mass