Medias Representation of the Nature and Extent of Crime...

Medias Representation of the Nature and Extent of Crime in Britain There is continuous debate on the effectiveness of media reporting with regards to informing the public about crime. The media have motive, methods by, which they distort information, and evidence of the affects of their misinforming the public. However the media do inform the public with regards to problems in our society, without the media we would know nothing. The public also need to be thought of when trying to decipher whether the media does in fact misinform them. There are certain motives, which may suggest that the media do in fact misinform the public with regards to the nature and extent of crime. The Marxist ‘mass†¦show more content†¦Surely it is the working class that are producing, writing and developing the media, for as the label suggests, they are working. So how can it be proposed that the media misinforms the public, when those that produce the media are in fact, the public? It could be said that the media therefore is an opinion, and how can an opinion be misinforming, it is not fact it is merely an interpretation of an event expressed by the public for the public. In spite of this there is another motive for the media to need to distort information and therefore misinform the public is the competition between media sources. McManus (1992) did a study of a Scottish television station he found that; 18 of the 32 stories analysed -- 56 percent -- were inaccurate or misleading. McManus also found a pattern to the miss-coverage: There is an economic logic to these distortions and inaccuracies. All but one...were likely to increase the storys appeal, help cut down the cost of reporting or oversimplify a story so it could be told in two minutes. As the Marxist theory proposes, we live in a capitalist society, where the social structure is determined by those with money and therefore power. Consequently the media wish to secure as many sales as possible and make the highest profit. To do this they often distortShow MoreRelatedThe Influence of the Media in Shaping the Publics Understanding of Crime1878 Words   |  8 PagesShaping the Publics Under standing of Crime With the rise of the mass media throughout the world, predominantly the Western world, the issue of media influence has become a serious one. Due to media’s primary obsession with crime and violence, it definitely has a negative influence on shaping peoples understanding of crime by exaggerating it. A branch of media which always exaggerates on some crime e.g. terrorist attacks then other crimes is TV news this is basically anRead MoreMarginalisation of Ethnic Minorities in Contemporary Media Essay2833 Words   |  12 Pagesthe nature of the media and the ways people interact with it. For example, cable, terrestrial and satellite television channels plus widespread cheap access to the Internet and digital technology have spread rapidly from the USA to many other parts of the world. In addition audiences are now able to interact with the media to some extent, so they are able to exercise some control over the form and sometimes the content of the message they receive. For representation to