Trial by Media

The Chief of police may use discretion in a criminal investigation by deciding that some information should not be shared with the public. In addition, the Chief of police might even give a decision on which information to be shared to the public. The duty of the Chief of police is to protect the public and so while making decisions, he has to be careful of the information the public should know. One of the most important duties of the Chief of Police is to re-assure the public of their safety and so, he cannot comprised their safety by allowing certain information that could harm them reach them. Therefore, while trying to keep the public safe and trying to inform them of the investigations about criminal activities in their community without causing them panic, he/she will make sure that the details that reaches them are limited so that f there are more criminals among them, they are brought to book. In addition, the Chief of Police will give limited information so as to save the public from more criminal activities, and to save their lives. For example, maybe there have been numerous murder cases in a community, and evidence is found at

The media can be an effective tool for exposing injustices in the application of criminal law, however it can also be used to create unfair bias against the alleged offender therefore, causing an imbalance between the rights of the accused and society. The media attempted to vilify Loveridge to create prejudice

The importance of show-trials is proving what you are doing looks good, and that is law-abiding. It is important to make everyone happy. (Bach pg.193) A show-trial is a judicial trial held in public with the intention of influencing or satisfying public opinion, rather than of ensuring justice. These show trials resonate deeply with the citizenry. The media world is outrageously popular for captivating the public audience’s attention for court room related cases. An example would be TV. We’ve all came across episodes of “Law and Order.” It appears out to be “how” people think American Justice is. (Bach pg.195) The public attention of media is ranked highly and known as best.

For a more adverse effect, the trail of Casey Anthony is a good example of how the media impacted the Criminal Justice System. Lawyer Nicholas Battaglia proposed a new term, “trail by media,” in his article for the Albany Law Review. Essentially, Battaglia proposed that the media had an adverse effect on the Casey Anthony trial by questioning certain finding of the defense, live on T.V., which swayed public opinion. Therefore, when the jury exonerated her, the public was in an outcry because they had come up with their own conclusions, or as Battaglia put it, “In a sense, this crated a “wrongful exoneration” of the defendant because the “armchair jury” had convicted her when the actual jury acquitted” (Battaglia, 2012) A perspective that I had previously not considered was the potential bias that media can represent as a result of either personal or occupational

Criminology is continuously changing and developing. Advances of technology have made media our primary news source for crime. We believe the stories told by our local news media, not doubting a word because these sources are supposedly reliable. Nevertheless, they sometimes do spread false information. It may be intentional or unintentional. According to Cohen, media presence amplifies a problem which did not previously exist (Steeves and Milford, 2015) thus creating a moral panic. As media influence increases, it is necessary for criminologists to study moral panics, such as the Columbine School shootings or the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

Since the beginning of American history, the media have played a massive role in how people perceive certain viewpoints. The media comes in all different shapes, whether it is propaganda, a commercial, advertisements and even newspaper articles can influence and individual minds. It can be even used to change one’s opinion on the way they may think of a particular race. Still today the media influences our mind, however many believe due to media bias and racial profiling will affect how “fair” their trial will be. In fact in today’s society, citizens in the United States are unable to gain a fair trial due to racial profiling, and bias in the media.

The purpose of this report is to analyse journalism practices employed in newspaper reporting across different outlets and to analyse if the practice was in line with the media

Another subtopic that has caused much debate along with the death penalty is the increasing influence of today’s media reporting on capital punishment cases and pushing to have televised executions as a form of retribution for some viewers and a kind of morbid reality show- entertainment for others. This also brings in the question of whether or not media coverage of executions

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.

Freedom of expression is not something we have to worry about in the United States. Within reason we can do what we want. We can lay

Free speech is the backbone that holds democracy together.  Without a free speech, ideas would not be challenged, governments would not be kept in check, and citizens would not be free.  John Stuart Mill said once that, “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person then he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”( Roleff, 21). The right to free speech is essential to “egalitarian democracy,”(Tsesis) however, this right is not absolute and must be limited in certain situations.

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.

For me, freedom of expression is a matter of a majority. Laws should not be made by a small group of people or only one person able to decide, laws should be made and decide by the ideas of the majority in order to satisfy the majority of people possible in a society.

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

In today¡¦s society journalism is under close scrutiny and is losing its credibility. Sensationalism effects both those who receive it in addition to those who report it. This essay will review the history of sensationalism in the media, clearly demonstrate how sensationalism effects ours views on journalism, and confront the ethical dilemmas that journalists must face between reporting objectively and reporting what sells. This will be accomplished by investigating various sources, including articles published on the Internet as well as those published in newspapers and magazines.