With the great advancements of technology, our access and use of media is greater then ever before. We, Canadians, along with other developed nations, are now, as a democratic society, dependent and affected by media in several ways. Without the media, many of us may have great difficulty accomplishing our daily activities and routines; we use it for our education, work and even personal relationships. But, do we ever question and think about the impacts that the media can have on individuals and our society as a whole? The values that the media portrays in its content, and how we adapt to these values? In this paper, I will focus on the role of the media in a democratic society, how the media influences the policy agenda, the criminal justice policy making process, the relationship between its role in democratic functioning and its problematic influence over policy making. To begin, I would like to start by giving a definition of media in order to avoid confusion: according to the oxford dictionary media is “the main means of mass communication (esp. television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet) regarded collectively.”
As mentioned in the class slides, we have three main sources of information to draw upon, they include the “use of popular wisdom or common sense; personal experiences; and media discourse” (Tabibi, 2013). As a result, we heavily rely on the media in order to gain information and knowledge about what is going on in the world around us, simply because it is obvious that we cant be in more then one place at the same time. The information we gain from the media though is through the perspective of those who control the media. If I were to further discuss as to who it is that controls the media, I would have to w...
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Currie, E. (2009). “Explanations” and “conclusion: the two factor futures of violence”. In V. Tabibi (Ed.) , CRM 2308 A: Social and criminal policy(pp. 41-117), Ottawa: Rytec Printing.
Mintz, E. (2009). Public policy and the public administration. In V. Tabibi (Ed.) , CRM 2308 A: Social and criminal policy(pp. 394-420), Ottawa: Rytec Printing.
Goodman, B. (Producer), & Howard, S. (Director). (1996). The Unelected: the media & the lobbies [Motion picture]. United States: Hedrick Smith Productions Inc.
In-text: (Goodman & Howard, 1996).
Surette, R. (2007). The media and the criminal justice policy. In V. Tabibi (Ed.) , CRM 2308 A: Social and criminal policy(pp. 201-203), Ottawa: Rytec Printing.
Tabibi, V. (2013). The media and the criminal justice policy. Class slides.
Canada holds the same beliefs about pubic broadcasting as Lowe & Jauert (2005). As a nation that is not only democratic but multicultural and diverse, media influence plays a major role in bringing together and shaping the Canadian society. Howev...
The media’s influence over the masses of society is great. With every passing generation, the media’s ability to access and relay information to the general public with seemingly the greatest of ease continues to impress. Given the expanse of time that has passed since the 1990s, the media, even more-so to this day, shapes our lives, our perceptions, and influences our opinions greatly. The 1990s served an important decade in our country’s young history. Since the mid-1800s, and even before that time, our country has experienced its share of societal issues, from racism to sexism, to religious bigotry, and police brutality, to name a few. In 1994 a very high-profile case was introduced to the American public, as former NFL star Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson was charged in the double-homicide of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend and alleged lover, Ronald Goldman (Neuendorf, 2000).
Schmalleger, F. (2009). The Conflict Perspective. In F. Schmalleger, Criminology: An Intergrative Introduction (p. 347). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Stevens, Dennis J. Media and Criminal Justice: the CSI effect. Sadbury: Jones and Bartlett, 2011. 35-38. Print.
Daly, Kathleen, Goldsmith, Andrew, and Israel, Mark. 2006, Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology, third addition, Thomson, Lawbook Co.
"And Punishment: Crime." The Economist US 27 January 1996, v338 n7950. : 25. Online. Expanded Academic Index. 16 October 1999.
Canada is viewed as being a very safe and stable place to live because people are lucky enough to have healthcare, benefits for unemployment and family needs, as well as maternity leave. Crime is something that Canadians don’t often think about because people feel as though they are out of harm's way. As Canadians, we’ve watched the world experience different threats and crime, and we’ve seen the world fight back. For example, our neighbors in North America, the United States, have gone through terrorist attacks and issues with guns and violence. Just because we are witnessing these things in other places doesn’t mean that we aren’t at risk as well, and Canada does have certain approaches and regards in place if we are ever in danger. What I wish to address in this paper is how Canada is set up for reacting to crime and jeopardy, as well as an example of where we went wrong in our past. Methods in response to crime, Canada’s legal regime and the issue of Residential schooling for Aboriginals a hundred years ago will be presented.
The news media play an integral role in keeping the public informed about the activities of organized crime groups operating in Canada. Nightly news stories, television documentaries, and newspaper editorials often outline the criminal activity perpetrated by criminal organizations and gangs. While many of these media representations remain objective in their attempt to circulate news to Canadian citizens, others can take on a considerable degree of partiality and sensationalize the danger posed by these crime groups in an attempt to attract increased viewership. In contrast, through corruption or extortion, news media sources may be under the influence of organized crime groups and not accurately portray the threat the...
The media, both in the mainstream and alternative sources, determine how the community view crime and how it represents the victims of crime, criminals and law enforcement officials. Media organisations have arguably become the main source of news, entertainment, recreation, and product information in society. For many people, media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, social media and television broadcasts informs viewers about events that affect their everyday lives. This essay it will explore the many variations of how crime is mispresented to society through mass media organisations.
The mass media are undoubtedly one of the most popular platforms through which people are able to learn about what is happening around them and across the globe (Woodrow and Reimer, 2014). This communication tool has managed to change the manner in which people receive and sieve information as well as disseminate it to others. In as much as the benefits of the mass media are numerous, its disastrous consequences cannot be ignored. In Canada, television is one of the most common outlets of media stations and it is used to air both local and international programming.
White, R., and Perrone, S. (2009) Crime, Criminality and Criminal Justice. Melbourne: Oxford University [Chapter 2 ‘Crime and the Media’]
Conscious efforts to critique existing approaches to questions of crime and justice, demystify concepts and issues that are laden with political and ideological baggage, situate debates about crime control within a socio-historical context, and facilitate the imagination and exploration of alternative ways of thinking and acting in relation to crime and justice. (p. 3).
Hickey, T. J. (2010). Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Crime and Criminology, 9th Edition. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The media provides us with knowledge about crime and it is through the media that the public learns about these certain events, and these events can be based anywhere in the world. Very few people have direct experience with crime and so the media is important in that it is a major source of crime related information. The media reports crime, and other issues, for p...
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. But how much influence does the mass media poses on our opinion? Guaranteed by the First Amendment in American Constitution, the media will always be there to inform us about the different events or issues they feel are important for the public. The media constantly bombards us with news, advertisements, etc, wher...