The Role Of Media In Social Media

Victims, through news reports and social media, often become celebrities overnight. Victims of crime are instantly thrown into the public eye and are fair game when reporters are rushing the scene for a top news story. The media frenzy creates a chaos that magnifies the victims pain and suffering to acquire viewer’s attention, and the reports are usually more gruesome, violent and more sexually charged than the truth. Sexually violent crimes are often a top news focus, re-victimizing the survivor of the sex crime. Research shows that “84% of prime-time television shows contain at least one episode of sexual harassment, which perhaps accurately reflects the commonplace nature of this violent crime”(Beirne, 2011, pg. 11). When a crime has been committed, victims are at a vulnerable time in their lives, which is when the media takes the opportunity to move in and overwhelm them even further while distorting the facts, asking questions, and snapping pictures looking for a news story. Victims are often even re-victimized as the media picks through their past, nothing is private, all information received, whether through a dependable source or just another citizen, is displayed for all of society to make their judgment. This can lead to society thinking the victim deserved it, it was their fault, or they weren’t a good person. This type of treatment has a greater devastating emotional

Whether through social media, televised news, or newspapers, most people are exposed to some sort of news media every day. It is the responsibility of the media to inform the public about what is happening in the world around us, and more often than not, that includes reporting crime. If the media is the source of our information, they have the power to influence our perception of that information. The media have the power to not only influence our perception of crime, but also the course it takes through the legal system. External pressures have ultimately shaped the news media’s illustration of violence and crime, and their coverage has and will reshape public opinion and even the criminal justice policy (Beale 2006). There are many examples of how the media changes the influences the public discourse of crime. This change can range from instilling small amounts of bias or jeopardizing high profile court cases. Regardless of the instance, it is something the public needs to be aware of.

news media is a key component in shaping public opinion and public policy (Carll 2003:1601). Sexual assault cases are one of the most underreported crimes, and those that do make headlines

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

Addressing that media produces a false representation of crime and the victims involved in these crimes. There are sensationalized cases that catch the attention of media yet these crimes may not be representative of the social area that they are perpetrated within. Does the offense, ethnic group, or the arresting agency produce the sensationalism of the report. Consequently, are these reports driving the fear of victimization possibilities, social controls, and social divides. We look towards the media as a form of educational sources to depict what is truly going on within our communities, cultures, and world but are these true statements. So many are using social sites to interact within their everyday environment to post opinions,

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

The reactions of our society to national news are heavily influenced by the media, and that includes our society’s perception of rape victims. A

In the article “Feminist History of Rape” by Suzanne Brown she writes how the use of language that degrades specific groups of people allows for that group to be viewed as less important. These stereotypes rationalize for mistreatment of targeted groups such as women (Brown 8). Likewise, Christopher Kilmartin explains in his article “Changing Male Attitudes Reduces Sexual Violence” that “ seeing them [women] as a lower status allows us [men] to justify mistreating them in many ways.” College dorms, fraternities, and athletic teams are all informal places where young men can speak demeaningly of women with no one speaking up saying how it is inappropriate (Kilmartin 136). Just like in the Stanford case when reporters addressed the victim as “unconscious intoxicated women” they belittled the victim (Koren). Media plays a large role in rape culture. The media reinforces gender roles that encourage males to be aggressive and females to be submissive (Brown 8). These cultural beliefs help create an environment where sexual assault can flourish (8). When the media uses a passive voice and making the victim the subject rather than the abuser also makes rape seem unimportant (Kilmartin 137). For example when announcing a sports game the broadcaster does not say the game was tied and then a player made a three-pointer at the last second (137). No, the viewers want to know who is playing, what is the game tied

Media plays a crucial role in bringing the depiction to the public about the knowledge about crimes. The public’s opinion is greatly influenced by the way the media presents the crimes committed as well as the awareness of the police. This means, therefore, if the media is accountable for the reports presented on televisions, and social media platforms, the conclusions were drawn by the public about crime incidences depends on the information presented by the media (Barak, 2013). Print media industry extensively produces copies that cover crime stories to boost their industry by selling large. Stories are crafted, sensationalized with the prospects to grab the attention of the public with stories that are not always true. For instance, watching

In a study conducted by McManus J. Dorfman on the portrayal of domestic violence by California newspapers, it was found that domestic violence is more murder oriented and overly exaggerated. They also tend to portray the victim in a negative light as compared to the perpetrator of the violence. For instance, a report by Dorfman about a man who fractured his wife’s skull and also pointed a gun at the police officers was said to have been “wronged by his wife” thereby distorting the reality of what really happened by making the woman seem like she deserved it (5). According to Dorfman, the media is more likely to cover intimate partner violence(IPV) if it results in a homicide and by doing this, they are exposing just a hint of this colossal and menacing social epidemic. Intimate partner violence was treated less frequently as an issue compared to other violence. The portrayal of DV amongst celebrities also contributes to it’s desensitization. In 2012, CNN reported a story where two Caucasian students in blackface re-enacted Chris brown beating Rihanna for a homecoming pep rally. Also, a group of researchers investigated the congruity of how the news outlets reported the O.J Simpson murder case. As a result of the high coverage of the murder trial Maxwell, Huxford, and Borum predicted that it would increase the emergence of domestic violence cases because it showed the public that celebrities are not exempted from this epidemic.

But this causes that some crimes are to be thought as not important enough to get coverage. Most of the victims of these crimes hide in the dark. ““Few studies have examined newspaper rape coverage and concluded that rape stories have fewer details than stories about murder or assault and do not provide information that puts the crime into perspective (1602).” Some solutions to this problematic representation of rape victims in the news media are education and social media. Because of rape culture in our society, many of the rape aggressors are often times tried for a minimum sentence which is not enough for the action he committed. Many who don’t agree can have a voice through social media. “Today feminist bloggers utilize social media in order to respond to rape culture, and hold accountable those responsible for its practices when mainstream news media, police and school authorities do not. (67) Education is another possible solution for this problem. ““Project Sister, a Pomona-based organization dedicated to helping victims of sexual and domestic violence, offers several education programs, with age-specific lessons for kindergarteners through the

Rape culture has been seen in many ways throughout the media. For example, during one of our readings we learned how rape and violence against women were being seen as normal, in song lyrics. Rape culture is also reinforced in films and movies. But, I decided to focus my manifesto project on how rape culture is represented in the news media. I have personally read and seen how the news media often blames the victim for being raped. Although they don’t state it so obvious, if you pay close attention you can see it. I believe this is an important issue given that it reinforces the idea that a victim of rape is responsible for it, which isn’t the true. Anyone who is raped is not responsible for what happened to them. If the news media, along with

Violence against women globally is so widespread a problem that it is now a widely understood fact that approximately one in three women have experienced either physical or sexual violence in her lifetime (WHO, 2013). The media plays a central role in shaping our understanding of the world around us and as a result its influence on how the wider community both views and understands violence against women is powerful. The media story titled: ‘The Steubenville Rape Case: Script goes awry for accused teen,’ tells the story of a sixteen-year-old girl who was raped by two high school football players who then shared photos of the rape on social media. This online article published by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) provides a startlingly

The way sexual violence is represented in the media has a lot of impact in terms of representation of men, women, and sexuality. This assignment will focus on critically discussing how the media socially constructs the reality of sexual violence and the representation of victims and survivors. It will briefly focus on understanding the prime news values (Jewkes, 2010) and how these apply to sexual violence. There will be a focus on the effect of these representations which may affect the victims, either directly or indirectly.

How the media covers sexual assaults creates serious implications for how society responds to sexual assault. Because individuals both receive and interpret knowledge from the media, the messages media shape help the public create informed opinions on social issues. Due to society taking mainstream news coverage to be objective and truthful, the messages society learns from news coverage of sexual assault have serious effects on survivors. These effects include how likely a survivor is to come forward with his or her assault, what people’s attitudes are about sexual assault and how the public