Media influences and Crime

            People have been involved in crimes and deviation despite the condition that it is always convicted by them. The content that it is displayed by the mass media shows how much there is an interest in crime by the mass sector.  In all the daily news, crime has become a talk of daily life.  The focus on crime is not a new appearance; the societies have been exposed to the topic. The growth and the advancement of the mass media and the different ways of reporting have soared with the gratification that they are able to see it brought in any way such as TV programs, Twitter and You Tube. This connection of the mass media and crime has raised the interest of many social researchers and has made them to question the attraction of the society with crime news as a way of entertaining them and giving them information although this is increasing the fear of the public.  Researchers have been studying the effects of the mass media for them to well understand its effects on the public.  Based on the research, the role that the media played as a publicity feature was brought under close survey (Gidden, Duneier & Appelbaum, 2003). 

            Many occurrences that happened globally motivated the researchers to study the topmost effects of the media.  For instance, a radio station in America caused much fear to the Americans who believed that they listened to the radio broadcast which was real report of an attack by the immigrants.  This caused the research on how the communication of information to the public through media caused direct effects to the public. The media influence theory on crimes was known as Magic Bullet Theory. It suggested that the media played a direct and supremacy role in influencing messages or portraits to the audience and having the authority to alternate or control opinions to the public. The theory lost its petition during the elections that were held in the 1940’s although the use of the media and many of the voters were not affected by the propaganda and it was recognized that many people were affected more than the others in their social groups slightly than the media. It was proofed that the media as an influence device did not affect every person in the same manner.  This caused the argument that people are social beings who have the liberty to make their decisions and responses based on the effects of socializing with others (Sotirovic, 2001). 

            This perspective also formed another theory known as two step flow typical. This approach stated that social connections regulate how people respond to the media.  Some persons were considered to be estimation leaders who trailed evidence given by the media and get all the information.  These leaders pass this information to others with their personal clarifications of the media presentations.  This theory stated that rather than have a direct effect on regulating the minds and the decisions of the public, the media instead affects how these decisions are formed and how information is given and is passed down the personal interpretations of certain individuals in the social networks (Sotirovic, 2001). 

            With advancing the technological devices and new forms of the media, research on the influences of the perspectives was done through psychologists in test center tryouts.  It was suggested that the future of the human manners was one of the topmost incentives in the modern society as people are affected by certain forces through their environments that play a role as an incentive. Based on the approach, it was noted that there was a connection between antisocial and violent behavior as a result of media contact. It was claimed that learning or getting information through the media leads to the demonstration of such behaviors. Psychological approach on the effects of the media on the public was not the only way of research on the connection between media and crime.  Another way was the connection between the media and crime that was from a sociological approach. The alternations in the society and the transformation from a rural condition to an urban and a more economized society is said to have instigated an intellect of chaos and chief to objective societies triggering to the deficiency of admiration for regulation and command as an outcome of the effects of the means (Weitzer & Kubrin,2004). 

            The connection of media and crime seems that the media and crime will be a topic that is continuing in future. Persons are given news information and make their opinions about the consumer products based on the information given through the mass media.  For instance, the mass media concentrates on the attention of specific matters, people for that fact that are affected by the essentiality of the matters on our program and consequently from our decisions on the matters and act consequently. As people, many people get their awareness about crime and the criminal fairness system through these distributions although its exactness has been the main concern for many individuals. The fact that crime has the possibility of being a TV topic, it is because it has negative sorts and values which are essential in the making of the news (Doyle, 2006).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Doyle, A. (2006). How not to think about crime in the media. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 48(6), 867-885.

  Giddens, A., Duneier, M., & Appelbaum, R. P. (2003). Introduction to sociology. Norton.

   Sotirovic, M. (2001). Affective and cognitive processes as mediators of media influences on crime-policy preferences. Mass Communication & Society, 4(3), 311-329.

Weitzer, R., & Kubrin, C. E. (2004). Breaking news: How local TV news and real-world conditions affect fear of crime. Justice Quarterly, 21(3), 497-520.