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The Media And Social Media Impact Our Lives

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Critical Analysis
Prior to tackling this topic, I had some predetermined thoughts about the media’s role in coverage of police shootings. This led me to researching the psychology of the people involved in these events. While I thought I would gather plenty of data to support a conclusion, I was surprised to find that was not the case. There was not enough data for this paper because fake news is a relatively new concept in our society with very little conclusive data.
The next logical step was to review studies on law enforcement and use of force, as well as studies on how social media and on-line media impact our everyday lives. My goal was to find parallels in the various studies to support a well thought out conclusion.
I began by …show more content…

The next step I took in finding the answer and possible solution, was to find studies that focused on who was being arrested and were the results similar in other parts of the country. In my search for information I found a journal article written by Gentry (2015). The focus of her research was to analyze whether the news media reporting of events affected people’s perceptions when the topic dealt with race and crime in the city of Las Vegas. Gentry compared how people viewed Whites who committed crimes to Blacks and Hispanics who committed crimes. This type of research is important because the results could help spur a change in how journalists report the details of crimes committed by alleged criminals who are not white. There were many interesting facts that came about because of this study. I found it interesting how many Las Vegas police officers shot unarmed persons since the early nineties. Of the thirty-three incidents, seven of the suspects died at the hands of a police officer’s gun. While these statistics are not that much different from other cities comparable to Las Vegas, what is noteworthy was the reason why they shot an unarmed suspect. Police officers told investigators that they feared for their life because they thought the person was armed with a deadly weapon and about to inflict bodily harm upon

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