Surviving The Circus: Persuading By The Media

In Rob Mawby (2002) article “Continuity and change, convergence and divergence,” he discusses the police-media relations and its ongoing conflicts. The purpose of the article is to focus on the relationship between the police and the news media and how it has grown over the years. The first step that Mawby (2002) take is a historical perspective of a police–media relationship. Second, look into changing the context of policing by considering a new management view for police-media relationship. Third, conduct a survey of police forces to scope the current practice of police–media relations. Lastly, identify dominant trends in policy and practice.

When it comes to the public's perception of police officers, the media plays a major role. Individuals who hear frequent media reports of abuse or corruption in law enforcement are more likely to believe that misconduct is common. Likewise, African-Americans who live in high-crime neighborhoods are more likely to believe that misconduct is common if they hear about frequent cases of police misconduct. While personal interactions and the interactions with family or friends are more important, scandals reported in the news can have a strong impact on how the police are perceived by the community.

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

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.

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.

Police brutality is a repetitive issue throughout American history needing to be fixed. Not only is that playing a role into how the public perceives them but the media as well has a vast impact on how the public perceives them. What the media is doing to the image of the police force is negatively impacting their image. Example of this are seen time and time again to where the media only talks about the negative things that the police force does rather the positive. If the general public is constantly being told all of the negative things that the police force does, then the public will see them as a negative influence.

Throughout history there has been many confrontational situations between citizens and police officers. Dating back to the 1960s during the civil rights movement, to recent events in the news that demonstrates police brutality. But does this mean that police officers aren’t doing their jobs. Could the media and social networks influence our views of the police? In my opinion it does. Police brutality has circulated media headlines for decades now. Citizens rage through the country, becoming more angry due to the outcome of police officers that use excessive force on victims are not being held accountable for it and walking away free. Studies have shown that police brutality targets more minority groups, such as Latinos and African

In today’s society many people view people in law enforcement; in this case police officers are seen as bad people because of the actions they have taken in a certain situation. For example the cases involving Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, Sandra, Bland in Hempstead, Texas or Tony Robinson in Madison , Wisconsin. As an end result people of those communities became outraged and starting rioting or protesting or hold a grudge against the officer(s) who are involved with the case itself. Therefore police officer’s reputation is ruined and people, who do not like the police officer, believe they can’t be trusted. Which is correlated to the media, and I think the media make has definitely, in my

I am writing my paper on police double standard. It came to my attention that when police are in the media, they are portrayed as the bad guy. I asked myself if that is the case, or is that the media perception. The police are in a position to protect and serve the community. The community should feel nothing but security and trust towards a police officer right? I am also aware that the media can also mislead and also contribute to the community feeling negative towards the cops. Very rarely do you see a cop doing an act of kindness, and that footage blowing up in the media.

All things considered, what the media covers and how much they chose to cover has significantly changed over the years, the most apparent in crime coverage. This consistent coverage of crime gives the audience an opportunity to interact with the media. They can feel a part of the intensity of an investigation, cheer on the enforcers, become immersed in their stereotypes. On the other hand, they can appreciate deviance for its resilience to overcome and resist

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.

In a National Interest article by J. Christian Adams, an unnamed officer was attacked by a citizen after the officer refused to use force when the citizen acted aggressively (Adams, 2015, para. 4). Adams states "The officer said he didn’t defend himself because of fear of what the media and the activists would do to him. 'A lot of officers are being too cautious because of what’s going on in the media,' the unnamed police officer told CNN. 'I hesitated because I didn’t want to be in the media like I am right now. It’s hard times right now for us.'"(Adams, 2015, para. 4). This case was especially alarming as the officer in question was beaten over the head with his firearm after he refused to draw it. The unnamed officer had stopped a citizen, by the name of Jared Cunningham, for driving erratically, but shortly after the stop Cunningham rushed the officer in an aggressive manner. Instead of drawing his firearm to defend himself, the officer in question refused to act and sustained severe injuries. This is perfect example of how the media can affect an officer's judgement. Biased media can lead an officer to question their abilities and may stop them from reacting appropriately. Incidentally, the inability to react in a professional manner will cause harm to the officer and can endanger citizens. To fix this issue, media sources must develop a more unbiased standing.

The use of force is often under scrutiny in todays world. With cameras always focused on the negative actions of those in law enforcement it is difficult for the public to understand several things. First off, what is it like to be a police officer, what is it like to have the power to legally take a life when deemed necessary? What is it like to have to use force and possibly deadly force to control a situation? Many people do not see the world of law enforcement in this way, many just see a senseless shooting, or a beating. Now I will admit this does happen, but it is rare. However when the media portrays the police force in a certain light it can take years for the departments affected to recoup the losses within the community. Misunderstood use of force in recent conflicts like Ferguson, where an officer shot an assailant who had just committed a robbery and assaulted him, can be spun and sensationalized both on purpose and subconsciously to make a bad guy out of the officer. In the Ferguson case I believe false eyewitness accounts and false accounts being used as credible sources caused the community and nation to riot against the department, city, and county officials. These actions fueled by the mass media coverage caused weeks of unrest and community turmoil.

Propaganda is performed through print, audio, and visual mass media. It is used for the promotion of the public’s activities in their life such as purchasing goods through market propaganda, and it is also found in politics, foreign affairs, and in many other fields. Most importantly propaganda is depicted in the informercialization of the news, which is connected with subliminal advertising and commercialization of public events and individual promotion such in communication websites. However, there is great debate over propaganda and persuasion that is casted in the media, which I will be elaborating in this essay.

The media also helps the police in the sense that they can let the public know about special programs they have to offer. For example, by having the local news talk about a program that teaches children what to do when they are offered drugs, or a program that kept children busy with sports, they