Thesis statements
Role of the media
Shifting paradigms of the power of the media have had important implications for enquiry into media organizations. Clearly, recognition of the power of the media raises questions as to how and by whom this power is wielded. Answers to these questions have been sought through the investigation and analysis of the structures and practices of media organizations. Concern with the study of media institutions, their work practices and their relationship with their socio-political environment, emerged as a mainstream feature of mass communication research only in the last two decades (Curran & Liebes 1998). Inasmuch as the early history of this field of research has been characterized by a preoccupation with the study of the effects of the media on their audiences, this new concern constituted a major shift of interest in the field. The reasons for this shift have been varied: in part it was prompted by some disillusionment with the capacity of ‘effects research’ to fully explain the power of the media. At the same time it also reflected an awareness of the relative neglect of media institutions as objects of study. But the more important stimuli came from theoretical developments outside the narrow confines of media research (Curran & Liebes 1998).
At least three different sources of influence should be identified here: first, developments in the sociological study of large scale, formal organizations yielded theories of organizational structure and behavior, as well as analytic tools, which were seen to be applicable to the study of media organizations and of their work practices and production processes. Secondly, the increasing influence of Marxist theorizing, with its challenge to pluralist models of power in society, prompted a reappraisal of the role of the media in society, and focused attention on the structure and the organization of the media (Bennett et al. 1990). The media came to be seen, in this perspective, not as an autonomous organizational system, but as a set of institutions closely linked to the dominant power structure through ownership, legal regulation, the values implicit in the professional ideologies in the media, and the structures and ideological consequences of prevailing modes of newsgathering. Thirdly, increasing attention to the study of the role of the mass media in politics indicated the importance of examining the relationship between media institutions and the political institutions of society, and the ways in which political communication emerges as a subtly composite product of the interaction between these two sets of institutions. These different influences resulted inevitably, not in a unified set of interests, but in examinations of different aspects of the institutions of the media (Bennett et al. 1990). The media has been perceived as an institution that provides information, ideas and entertainment to its viewers. This role of the media is oftentimes questioned due to the methods used by some media personnel just to achieve their goals. The gathering of information or important news can sometimes lead media personnel to request an institution such as a courtroom or a church to allow them to cover what is happening in the institution. The media sometimes cause the disruption of the solemnity of the proceedings in that institution.
Media and the courtroom
Misperceptions of the criminal justice system abound, forming a constellation of attitudes that reflect a theme of leniency. The news media appear to be the source of these misperceptions. Although there are many potential sources of information about criminal justice, the vast majority of the public cites the news media as their primary or exclusive source. News media coverage of criminal justice is highly selective, episodic, and focused on a limited number of offenses. Public overestimates of the proportion of crime involving violence can be directly traced to the over representation of violent crime, particularly homicide, in news stories. By emphasizing violent crime and lenient sentences, the news media also encourage the public to subscribe to a false syllogism involving crime and punishment (Tonry 2000).Guaranteed results in a court of law are, of course, not quite as certain However, the press and legal journals are full of accounts where the outcome of a trial was determined by some unusual action by a member of the court. Judges have issued decisions that defied legal logic, attorneys have used tactics or antics that fiction writers couldn’t have dreamed up, and trial participants haven’t always been the quiet, respectful persons they were expected to be (Chiasson Jr, 1997).
Juries, of course, have gone so far a field from the evidence and issued such outrageous judgments that the results actually have wound up in Hollywood. Such courtroom behavior has resulted in mixed receptions from the general public. At times, decisions contrary to law or accepted legal authority have been condemned by large segments of society. At other times, such decisions have been received with popular acclaim, with the defendant or some other court participant hailed as a hero. Why does the press love spectacular trials? Trials are real-life soap operas that allow the public to gawk at others’ malfeasance and tragedy. From a social responsibility perspective, press coverage of trials is little more than a pernicious distraction from weightier matters of civic responsibility. But it has been well established that, in market-driven journalism, the media must give the public what it wants rather than what it needs. A more interesting question about trial coverage focuses not so much on the press, but on the public: Why do people read and watch trial coverage with such avidity? A considerable body of press criticism now looks at media coverage not in terms of its accuracy or its biases, but as a compendium of stories much like literature. And these stories can be interpreted like any other anthropological artifacts, as cultural indicators. Trials are also cultural events, which is probably why they interest the public so much. They have all the elements of good fiction: conflict, suspense, rising and falling action, deception and surprise, heroes and villains. Like a sports event, a trial ends with a clear-cut winner and loser. Trials provide a continuing source of news pegs, as each new witness and each new bit of evidence creates a new premise for a story (Chiasson Jr, 1997). The media has created its own impact on courtrooms and its conduct of trials. Media at times can be the cause for the acquittal or conviction of individuals. This paved the way for some people to criticize media and its participation to trials.
References
Bennett, T, Curran, J, Gurevitch, M & Woollacott, J 1990,
Culture, society and the media, Routledge, London.
Chiasson Jr, L 1997, The press on trial: Crimes and trials
as media events, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT.
Curran, J & Liebes, T (eds.) 1998, Media, ritual and
identity, Routledge, London.
Tonry, M (ed.) 2000, The handbook of crime & punishment,
Oxford University Press, New York.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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