Bill Cosby Scandal Analysis

The 2006 Duke Lacrosse Case brought to light many of the issues and divisions currently plaguing our media sphere. This terrible act of injustice, which blamed three innocent Duke lacrosse players, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, for the rape of an African-American stripper, garnered extensive media attention that gripped America for almost an entire year (Wasserman, 3). Today, many scrutinze the media’s methods of covering the case, and deem that certain codes of ethics were not adhered to. Rather than remaining neutral, newspapers and TV outlets allowed themselves to “be used” by Mike Nifong, the former District Attorney for Durham and prosecutor of the case, by reporting

Sexual assault always has and always will be a serious problem in society. Despite the fact that, according to sources like the RAINN organization, the amount of reported sexual assault cases in the United States has dropped by more than half since 1993, sexual assault itself remains a problem in the United States. Just very recently, eight women have now come forward and accused longtime news anchor Charlie Rose of sexual misconduct in the workplace. This latest incident is one of many that have been reported within the recent months against those of a high socioeconomic standing in society, entertainers and politicians who abused their positions of power in order to harass and harm their female colleagues. These victims waited until now to report these incidents due to the fear that they will not be believed and that justice will not be delivered against those in such powerful positions. They only now come forward due to the unity they have found in each other against these abusers. To understand the uncertainty these women faced in their decision, this issue must be looked upon sociologically, using each of the three sociological perspectives of functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism to overview the various factors like race, gender, and social class that played a part in delaying their decision and explain why and how the justice system has failed in this way.

I thought the Bill Cosby trial was very interesting. One simple reason why it caught my eye with all those females saying he did rape me 15 years ago and etc. It was sorta of like a train reaction if you understand what I mean. I guess I had never experience what those women went threw but i wonder why the speak up now , why not earlier?. It did surprise me to a point how there was no evidence to make a case. I understand it happened so long ago but I wonder if Bill Cosby had good connection with people in court house. I always think differently because I watch to much crime shows.

In “ ‘A Steep Price…’” it analyzed the opinions of the public, media, victim, and aggressor in defending their particular take on the case. The article offers mild bias, so it does not completely report the events of the case, because it mostly focuses on the opinionated effects and not so much the facts. In “Feminist Put Judge...”, major bias is introduced by claiming to be in support of the feminist cause; however, the article uses a stronger ethical appeal to attract a broader, more unified audience. In “Here’s the Powerful Letter…”, the author recants the letter the victim wrote to her attacker, Brock Turner. She not only aims for the audience to feel the distress and havoc the case has relinquished on her life, but also a chance to spread a more positive message to thank her supporters while encouraging her audience to stand up for themselves and their self worth. The overall purpose of analyzing all these different media sources is to be able to recognize how the multiple points of view that a story can be told from will alter the objectivity of the event. A society’s culture will emphasis bias or certain point of views to get the public to believe one interpretation of the story based on the

Now I realise it seems a bit hypocritical of me to attack the media’s representation of a news event when I myself am a part of the hype-generating circus we call mass media. However, the voice of my wise, high-school English teacher echoes in my subconscious that we should always be critical of the texts we consume and conscious of the

The media played a large role in narrating the story of how and why the boy’s death occurred. Giroux uses the term “privatized discourse” in discussing the treatment of the case within American media and culture. “...Dangerous because they invoke wider social considerations and prevent [them] from wallowing in a purely privatized discourse that, in the end, for instance, only allows [them] to focus on the most narrow and restricted of issues such as the personality of the shooter, George Zimmerman” (Giroux 2**). The preceding quote highlights one of Giroux’s main focuses, the tendency for the public

On the local news shows, young black men are disproportionately presented as criminals and white young men as victims despite the egalitarian norms we purport to hold Dixton (2008). They are many historical and contemporary examples of media portraying young black men in the way

Recently Comedian Jim Jefferies, has received a lot of backlash for a joke made in his latest comedy special, Currently on Netflix, “Freedumb”. At the very start of the Special, Jim does a segment on The Bill Cosby rape allegations in late 2014. He has received massive backlash for this segment, even though he also claimed that he is an entertainer and that his jokes shouldn’t mean to be taken seriously. Even though he gave this disclaimer, people have stopped going to his shows and started protesting him, claiming that he can’t joke about rape.

Have you ever witnessed something that was so absurd yet convincingly real? If you have, the Onion, a satirical news organization, may help recreate that feeling with some of their videos and articles. Published in 2011 on the Onion’s website and on YouTube, the video “College Basketball Star Heroically Overcomes Tragic Rape He Committed” satirizes how lightly people who commit rape are punished, and their crime even forgotten about. The video, employs the use of clever satire to convince the audience unfamiliar with the Onion that the report is real, while having implicit meanings and messages about rape culture in the United States. While the video still speaks

America stands by traditional notions where rape culture is the norm and revolves around society. In particular, when a woman is raped, their actions prior to the incident are usually accounted for their fate of being sexually assaulted. Lately in America, there has been a controversy over women being victim blamed by legal authority in rape cases. These women are slut shammed for allegedly “asking for it” by being intoxicated and having the intention to “have fun”. Because of these accusations of allegedly seeking to engage sexually, rape victims are blamed for initiating the sexual act. An ongoing controversial rape case is the Stanford rape trial of Brock Turner, where the victim was sexually assaulted while unconscious near a dumpster. Turner was convicted for sexual assault, however was only incarcerated for three months. This has recently caused uproar due to justice and retribution not being equally served. The incident occurred near a university campus party; where alcohol was involved and memory loss was present. In addition, she was rushed to the hospital as a rape victim and was examined. Despite complying to use a rape kit and be evaluated, the victim’s accountability is undermined by the leniency of treatment in rape charges. When examining linguistic features of both parties’ written statements, several factors can be analyzed such as each participant’s stance and the credibility of their accounts. In addition, when dissecting a victim’s written account,

A comment regarding "legitimate rape" made by U.S Republican Senator Todd Akin aroused extreme controversy amongst the country. Especially with the election right around the corner, such a degrading and insulting remark referring to a highly sensitive subject is more than likely to be magnified under the spotlight. With Akin claiming on national television that rape in many circumstances is not always legitimate and that the female body "has ways to try to shut that whole thing down", a great deal of the public felt insulted and taken aback. Even with quick apologies and attempts at correcting his inexcusable words, he could not move fast enough to compete with the media. The media moves faster than the speed

In reference to the media’s role, they have been highlighted for playing a part in maintaining these views by portraying victims in a certain way according to the newsworthiness of each story

Bill Cosby was charged with aggravated indecent assault involving “Temple University employee” that happen a decade ago. Andrea Constand the victim said that Cosby gave her quaaludes then sexually assault her. Constand filed a civil suit against cosby and demanding for the lawsuit to be public and Bill Cosby said “yes” to the question. Over “a dozen women claim that they were drugged and molested by the comedian”.

Along with television shows, news stations are accused of trivializing rape aswell. How many times have you heard, “She asked for it.” or any other type of victim blaming, or a derivative of,“Boys will be boys.” to make rape seem like not such a big deal (1a)? News channels will even go as far as scrutinizing a victim’s dress, mental state, motives and history to make the victim seem in the wrong about their rape (1a). Some channels will inflate the fake rape statistics to make rape seem like a less

As Griffin (2009, p. 364) so concisely stated, “the media aren’t very successful in telling us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about”. In more recent times, the direction of this theory has changed. Scholars have begun to focus on how the media “frame” social issues through the inclusion and omission of certain attributes of particular events (Ruddock, 2013). “Framing” refers to the forming of narratives and concepts that deliver meaning as an event unfolds (McCombs and Shaw, 1972). Themes such as media violence, particularly in the event of a school shooting, are often used to repeatedly reinforce social norms that are deemed important by the media. As a result, generic stereotypes are inevitably cast and the potential copycat behavior advertised.