ROLE OF MEDIA

Role of media in forming public opinion

Executive summary

Domestic violence victims are the least supported victims in our criminal justice system. We need to understand why these victims receive minimal support and are continuously re-victimized. I conducted a study of newspaper articles and blogs on separate cases involving rape and domestic violence. Each article was coded looking for how the “victim” and “offender” were portrayed in the articles. The “offender” was overwhelmingly shown in a positive light in majority of the articles coded. The “victim”, on the other hand, tended to be shown in a more negative manner and received very little support (if any) by the comments posted on the blogs. Figuring out why rape and domestic violence victims have the least support in our criminal justice system would help us to better serve and protect these victims. It would help the public not to re-victimize them and help future and past victims to come forward and receive the protection and support they need and deserve.

Table of Contents

Contents

INTRODUCTION4

Research Objective5

Hypothesis6

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY6

LITERATURE REVIEW8

DISCUSSION9

CONCLUSION10

REFERENCES12

Role of media in forming public opinion

Introduction

We read, watch, and hear violent stories about what is going on in our cities, in our neighborhoods, and on our streets; what impact does this have on the population? We know from studies that the public's perception of the amount of crime in their area is higher because of the news constantly showing images of murder and assault on television and in newspapers. In the eyes of the public, it is perceived that the crime rate is high when in actuality the crime rate is lower than what is portrayed. Philip Jenkins found that during the serial murder scare of the 1980s, the media estimated that the number of serial murder victims was between “20-25 percent of homicides in America”. In actuality, the victims of serial murders were more likely around “2 percent” of American homicides. According to Time Magazine (January 24. 2011) “14,793” people were murdered in the United States in 2009. If “25 percent” of those murders were by a serial killer then, according to the press estimate, 3698.25 people are killed by a serial murderer each year. In contrast and using the actual estimate that number drastically decreases to 295.86 people killed by a serial murderer each year. This is a huge difference! What is kept from the general public's knowledge are the staggering differences in these assumed estimates and the actual estimates. Knowing that crime sells, the media strategically uses this as a guise to create these scare tactics which ultimately helps them gain better ratings and sell more papers. If the media can control the public's perception on the amount of crime the public believes is around them, what other public perceptions are controlled by the media? We have found that how the media reports a criminal will have an effect on how the public will perceive him/her. Does this reporting transfer onto the victims of crimes as well?

The media can impact the public's perceptions of ...