Denotation And Connotation: A Case Study

CSI, Law and Order, Fox News, Making a Murderer, Nancy Grace and Cops: these shows have large audiences and high ratings, showing that western society is obsessed and mesmerized with crime and criminal activity. Crime and media go hand in hand, as the media frames crime as a major social problem, due to the lack of policy and policing certain behaviors. The media and the criminal justice system go together, like peanut butter and jelly, a sandwich of chaotic fruits and nuts. The media is quite concerned with policing, but much less about the court system, consequences, and the punishment received by the offender, devising misconceptions of the judicial processes. There are several different sociological perspectives pertaining to the media

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 details of some crimes that may require future trials are often broadcast immediately or almost immediately after the crime has been committed (Brown). Social media is a “pull” facility, meaning that any user may search for any viewpoint or information he or she wishes. (Lambert) To put this in perspective, television is a “push” facility, wherein audiences selected by the television station or a show’s producers are given information and do not have control of the content (Lambert). Twitter users may choose to follow any number of accounts for established news organizations and reporters that may or may not have a clear or defined bias, such as Fox News, Anderson Cooper, and MSNBC, which represent the left-wing, center, and right-wing points of view, respectively (Visualizing Media Bias through Twitter). There is an “extreme polarization among media sources, indicating that the political dichotomy naturally arises on Twitter in the media subscription patterns of users” (Visualizing…). This extreme polarization that users pull themselves into also subjects them to a solitary point of view regarding any current event. This isolating experience causes the user to form thoughts that follow those organizations’ lines of thought, and no amount of reason can

Consequently, the political sphere is now being colonised by the media, and politics has begun re-orientating itself to satisfy the logic of media organisations (Meyer, 2002, p. 71). Therefore, the media are active participants in the policymaking process and the ability to stimulate change or maintain the status quo depends on their choice of subject or policy issue and how they frame it. Active investigative reporting attempts to shape policy outcomes, but this does not necessarily mean that it always represents the most successful approach for gaining policy changes (Spitzer, 1993, p. 7). In fact, sometimes passive, straight reporting can have a greater influence on policy choices. When this occurs, media independence is largely bypassed, as the news generated depends solely on the information released (as public relations material) from legitimate news sources. For example, in the United States, White House staff routinely make ‘leaks’ - expressively to influence policy decisions (Davis, 1992, p. 143; Robinson, 2001, p. 948). Robinson noted that journalists regard “leaks… as indispensable to their work” and that they are aware of their use by officials in return for scoops (2001, p. 949).

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

Grimes, J. N. (2010 January-December). The social construction of social problems: "Three Strikes and You 're Out" in the mass media. Journal of Criminal Justice and Law, 2(1-2), 39-56. doi:Ebscohost database

Many times, the media is the main cause in contributing and encouraging the creation of crime myths. The mass media have responsibilities to update the public on the activities occurring domestically and internationally. Stories or reports have to grab the attention of viewers and often times this is accomplished through methods of dramatizing and sensationalizing stories. Instead of stating solely fact, mass media reports have become bias opinions, allowing for it to evolve into more of an entertainment business rather than news.

What factors contribute to this significant gap between perceptions of violent crime and the reality of it? When asked where they obtain their information about crime, an overwhelming plurality of random participants ages 13 to 59 responded with the mass media (Warr, 2013). In the context of this survey and also this paper, the mass media is defined as diverse mainstream media technologies intended to reach a widespread audience (Warr, 2013). This encompasses all television, radio, internet, and paper outlets which broadcast to a wide range of audiences

The media, in spite of the fact that it might incite or propagate forceful conduct, can't be considered completely dependable. Rather, it might be viewed as one impact that is working in an aggregate circumstance among numerous others, and is liable to fortify previous social and individual propensities, inclinations, states of mind, practices, convictions, and worth frameworks, which advance threatening vibe and

There are newspapers (such as the “National Enquirer”) renowned for their fictitious (although admittedly attention-grabbing) headlines, yet we hardly hesitate to assume the information is fabricated. On the other hand, when our trusted news sources present their stories, many automatically assume the information is true, which is why “[e]rroneous reporting by established organizations is a bigger threat than

Lastly, the dramatization by news programs today produces a glamorization of crime. News stories on crimes are extremely popular due to the fact audiences’ remembers bad news much easier than good news. Take history for example, much of history is filled with recounts of gruesome murders, wars, and scandals. An estimated 71 million viewers across the country tune in to their local news station’s broadcast (Yanich, 2004, p. 537). It can easily be

A large number of articles nowadays consistently debates about the way crime is shown throughout the media is in fact incredibly different from what official research and other records tell us, this is showing how the media misrepresents the nature of crime. Below will provide an overview of how the media misrepresent evidence for real-life crime and how they do this. It is seen that the media is the public’s primary source about crime and this has helped to the exploitation of the inaccuracy with presenting the nature of crime.

Today, people find messages in the form of codes subconsciously within the entertainment industry, which are the broadcasters of these codes in order to portray their messages to appeal to the deep semantic codes of a culture. This can be found in almost every form of media, and while the news does in fact play a major role in displaying these codes as subconscious messages for its own audience. The Sean Hannity Show is a perfect example because Sean Hannity has personally taken full advantage of how to create messages by using codes within his show to appeal to the conservative American dominant culture. While, also using the idea of alienation of certain people or groups in order to use them as an commodity for his own personal gain to be

Crime and courtroom proceedings have become a fascination for the Western society. Reality and fiction though have begun to distort the expectations of what is expected in the courtroom. These distortions deriving from television shows such as CSI, 48 Hours Mystery, American Justice, Law & Order and even, on occasion, Dateline NBC. The mass media play an important role in the construction of criminality and the criminal justice system. The public’s perception of victims, criminals, the gathering/processing of evidence, deviants, and law enforcement officials is largely determined by their portrayal in the mass media. “Research indicates that the majority of public knowledge about crime and justice is derived from the media (Roberts and Doob,

Today's mainstream media contains a wide variety of media outlets that can lead to a miss conception of information through the biases it may incorporate. Different media outlets may display the exact story, but their perspective may be viewed in a different way depending on how they’re being presented. Bias plays a vast role, on how news is being presented not only by the word choice and writing style being used but also on how one may interpret the information being presented to them. If the article or news outlet leans one way more than the other, the reader of the opposing side may have a tough time trying to make out an idea on how it’s being presented and this can lead to a misunderstanding of the news overall. All of the methods and techniques that media outlets use to sway readers, can all be generalized as a use of connotation and denotation. The connotation of a term can be used to favor one’s views on a certain topic. For example, one media platform may refer to something as being “almost done” while the other side may refer to the same issue as “close to being done”. One has a more positive connotation than the other. Small things like connotation can change the whole meaning of the issue or alter its original intent. While other media platforms may use the exact definition also known as denotation to provide a factual piece of information. Media outlets like USA Today, New York Times and Fox News all had their own say on Sexual Harassment, but each one has taken