Media 's Influence On Public Perception Of Law Enforcement Essay

A number of recent investigations have concluded that news programs often systematically misrepresent black Americans as perpetrators of crime and whites as victims of or defenders against lawbreaking (Dixon 1). According to those investigations by Dixon and Linz (2000a), “Blacks were twice as likely as Whites to be seen as perpetrators, six times more likely to be portrayed as perpetrators than officers, and overrepresented as criminals.”

Media bias affects just about anything in a society. It can portray certain people from different ethnic, culture, and religious backgrounds as second class citizens and deteriorates their images as a peaceful law abiding citizen. However, media bias also affects law enforcement. In the last few years, the media has painted police officers as a negative image. With the unfortunate events of Travon Martin, Mike Brown and others, the media has depicted law enforcement as a whole to be the bad guys. The story of Travon Martin is what brought attention to certain unnecessary forces that a few police officers had choose to use. On the night of February 26, 2012, Martin was shot by a police officer, George Zimmerman, whom was not charged for murder.

This article begins by reviewing the literature highlighting the ways crime news typically reinforces stereotypes of blacks and other nonwhites, particularly Latinos, and contributes to more generalized racial biases. Media stereotypes consist of recurring messages that associate persons of color with traits, behaviors, and values generally considered undesirable, inferior, or dangerous. In terms of speaking about crime coverage, there is considerable evidence that media portray blacks and Latinos as criminal and violent. These images matter because they are a central component in the on going cycle by which the media adds racial and ethnic misunderstanding and negative associations are reproduced, and end up in predictable influences in the criminal-justice process.

When an individual chooses a career in law enforcement they realize it can be a very rewarding, yet dangerous career path to take. Most people often hear about all the potential dangers such as officer involved shootings and physical confrontations before making the choice to join the ranks of the few who will always stand for what is right. However, today there is a new danger to law enforcement known as the mass media which adds a whole new realm of difficulty to an already taxing job. The negative effects of the media can be felt nationwide by law enforcement agencies and these effects include creating a divided community, unrealistic expectations, and the devastation of current and future law enforcement careers. This presentation

The researcher began by asking the question what factors contribute to the stereotyping of black men as “dangerous and criminal”. And the researcher found out that although media influence stereotyping of this sort, it's only smaller part of the larger problem. There is a general tendency in the media to over-represent African-American as criminal; portray black men as particularly dangerous, and present information about black suspect that assume their guilt. However, even when crime featuring black and white criminal suspects is presented in equitable ways in the media, viewers’ existing stereotypes can result in biased interpretations that may serve to maintain racial stereotypes nevertheless. The researcher conclude that, viewers’ selective perception and interpretation of media content suggest that equitable media portrayals of race in crime-related programming may not be sufficient to address the concerns presented here.

This research will look at data collected by multiple surveys and field research that has been carried out over the past decade. The data that is collected will be able to give us a better look at the amount of media the public consumes and what their perceptions are on police brutality. This proposal will review the research and data collected by others who have previously studied this topic and outline a new study. Prior studies have examined the media’s effect on the public’s perception on how effective the police are. The proposed study will attempt to look deeper into how much the media truly effects how often the public perceives that misconduct and brutality incidence occur among police forces.

Pop culture media, like Law and Order, has a way of showing people how crime is portrayed. Case (2013), mentions that past studies about the representation of crime in the media has increasingly shown fear to the public and portraying unrealistic standards of how crime is in the real world. Media likes to exaggerate how things truly are in the real world, which is why people believe what the media portrays. People will believe that everything they see in a television show can truly happen in the real world, which certain things can happen but not everything. If people end up believing in how the media portrays crime then people will be living in fear of their society being more violent than it actually is (Case, 2013).

In today’s society mass media has major influences on the beliefs/perceptions one may have on certain ethnicities or controversial topics. Media outlets have the power to shape certain situations and place people in an image that may not always be accurate. As stated in an article by Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter, Communication research and theory suggest that the mass media is an important source of information about African Americans and media portrayals contribute to public perceptions of African Americans(2008). Further, it was mentioned that media outlets such as television may cause viewers to conceive, alter, or even reinforce their beliefs and opinions about African Americans ( Punyanunt- Carter, 2008). For Instance, in the Netflix documentary called “13th” Media outlets consistently used the word “Super predators” when describing the numerous African American men who were being arrested in the 80’s during the war on drugs era. The constant use of the word super predator can persuade viewers to believe that ALL African American men are super predators when that is not the case! Just because there are a few African Americans who are seen on Media outlets committing heinous crimes does not mean that all African Americans are criminals. As stated in a scholarly article by Tony Weaver, Media outlets create a narrative that portrays African Americans as lazy, violent individuals, who are prone to crime. The Misrepresentation of African Americans in media has

For example, 76% of crime report in local news stations in Chicago depicted a black perpetrator for their leading stories (Entman, 1990). This coverage works to provide stereotypes on the assumption of black people as dangerous, sub-human, and inherently criminal. Moreover, in comparison to white criminals who were not shown in holding or mug shots, black criminals are frequently shown handcuffed in police holding (Entman, 1990) The association of black people with symbols of menace increases the apprehensive and negative beliefs required for systemic racism (Entman, 1990). As a result of extensive circulation of negative stereotypes, it becomes imbedded in the social psyche that violence and discrimination are reasonable merits to be employed against these people as they are seen as a threat to social stability. In effect, there is little accountability for violence against blacks by members of law enforcement and many officers are not indicted for the murder of blacks, or else face menial sentences (Chancey& Robertson, 2015). The underlying attitude of disregard towards black lives enables institutionalized racism, which is transferred to the general public, and is justified by the negative stereotypes fabricated by the ruling white class (Chancey& Robertson, 2015). For example, from “January 1

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?

Different forms of media, such as television, films, books, and newspapers, have similar ways of portraying the criminal justice system. The media constructs representations of crime and justice and in doing this, it presents an often dramatized representation of the criminal justice system; and this does not just influence on the public’s lay view of crime but also for criminal justice experts (Marsh, 2014). In the media it is commonly known that they are a business, and businesses need to make a profit. Because of this, the media’s portrayal of the criminal justice system has been very negative. With the news, their main purpose is to produce what sells. So many of them would edit the information they have gathered and make a story that will sell. Also the media does not show the full process of the criminal justice as a quick process, while in fact it is not. For example, last year, Netflix released a short series called “Making A Murderer”. Most people claimed that they feel like they can solve a crime when they finished watching a series. While that series is very factual, it does not hit every single step of the criminal justice process.

Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister, African-American civil rights activist, and non-violent protest leader, once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Ali-Dinar 1963 p.1). Such an iconic and fearless leader recognized the unjust behavior within society as a result of racially motivated police brutality and societal discrimination. Though his efforts were not in vain, today’s media representation of law enforcement impacts the societal cultivation of police officers in a negative way. Media outlets, in the forms of television, radio, or social websites, create a cynical view of police officers, which influences societal beliefs and creates negative connotations.

The media plays the role as entertaining and a source of information to its viewers, however, with the current crime trends, most viewers have the perceptions that our criminal justice system is lacking in areas of proper sentencing and protecting the viewers. All this is based upon what we see in the media is the information reliable or not? I say this because of hearing about news personality lying about their experience only to booster the networks rating. When the criminal justice system has contact with the media, most will withhold information or give misleading information to justify the capture or conviction of a criminal. So not only are we questioning the efficacy of the criminal justice system but the media as well.

The effects of newspapers and television, in particular have been found to differ. Newspapers tend to affect beliefs about crime, whereas television more affects attitudes such as fear of crime (Surette, 80).

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