Relationship between media and crime

The relationship between the crime and the media system has been the subject of research, speculation, and commentary since a very long time. This relationship may be understood in terms of dependency relations operative between these massive systems. Put most simply, neither the media nor the criminal justice system could operate effectively without the other. The criminal justice system is a resource for the media system in that it affords one of the common sources of news and entertainment stories.

It is actually very sad to see that media organizations use a crime scene as their ticket to fame and ty to cash every bit of it while ignoring all of the ethical values. But on the same hand media plays a vital role in revealing all the information and pressurizing the law and order authorities to do the right job in time. Moreover, for the criminal justice system to operate effectively, it must have the authority that derives from people’s willingness to grant it legitimacy and drag maximum attention, and media storytelling can highly affect this process. This relation then becomes the reason for examinations of specific aspects of media, criminal justice, public, and decision-maker relations.

As far as entertainment media specifically is concerned, it also has been studied and criticized for their influence over public perceptions of the people and institutions that comprise the criminal justice system. A large amount of television programes has in one way or another have targeted or depicted the true pictures of police, lawyers, judges, criminals, and victims of crime. The effects on public attitudes and behaviour that these portrayals may have brought about have received considerable research attention. Moreover, in many cases it is seen that upon investigating a crime a lot of criminals reveal that they got the whole idea of the crime through a drama, or a movie or any other such type of thing that was telecasted over a media platform. This is something which needs to be controlled in time because it is true that there are many things which we see on our TVs each day which are intense enough to provoke anyone to do a crime. This is the reason why media is considered to be immensely strong in all aspect and people are so attracted towards it.

We can not say that media reports are always and, in every case, correct and true. It is a bitter truth that media personnel can do anything, literally anything to get extra ratings for their channels and to get a little too famous. In many cases it is seen that a mountain is made out of a mole hill to drag attentions of the viewers and the make people believe on the authenticity of that particular media source. But it is also seen many times that just because of the media coverage on a particular case a fair conclusion is drawn within a reasonable amount of time and an exemplary justice is made. So, we can say that the argument between media and crime is highly conflicted and no will ever find an end to it.

Whereas, it remains a conflict that the ability of the media to influence the course of crime is entirely legitimate or desirable, especially when that influence stems from the increasing dominance of the media’s entertainment over its journalistic function. But the media are powerful enough to resist intrusive public policy and defend the resources they use for this purpose. Research consideration has been given to the reliance relations among the people from media and journalism and the police and courts. The privilege of journalists to secure sources by not unveiling their names has additionally gone under examination now and again.

Moreover, it isn’t in every case simple to characterize the perfect connection between the media and the crime. The objectives and assets of the media don’t match with those of prosecutors, respondents, judges, and police. The objectives and assets that we people have as a community of readers are not the same as the objectives and assets those equivalent individuals have in different jobs they play, as residents, suspects, and consumers. At the point when objectives are in struggle, and assets are scant or under an argument, the general intensity of a herd towards a particular matter of conflict turns into a central issue.