Crime media coverage

We have watched many forms of American crime media as well as a few forms of Canadian crime media. From what we have seen in both American crime media and Canadian crime media I'm pretty sure its safe to say that both these forms are pretty different in many ways. For example while watching the Canadian coverage of the Russell Williams case I noticed that the way the situation was presented was different than the American coverage of it. In the Canadian version the story was presented at a much slower pace and more information about Russell Williams background was given to us. The story was also presented in a way that let me make up my own opinion about him and gave me all the information I needed to come up with my opinion. Plenty of information was given but the information was given in a more mature respectful way compared to the American coverage of the story. In the American coverage of the story less information about Russell Williams himself was given but all the other information was delivered at an extremely fast pace making it hard to really grasp any of the information. The American coverage of the story also presented the information in a more dramatic way getting into all the little details of the horrible crimes that were committed where as the Canadian version they refrained from presenting certain information. I think that the law about video cameras in Canadian court rooms should stay put into place. I think that there is some information that the public doesn't need to know about certain cases and by allowing video cameras into a court room you are allowing for that information to get out to the public. While any type of media is reporting on crime cases I think that they should be able to make public their opinion of the case but make it clear that it is only their opinion and that it doesn't necessarily mean that its right. I also believe that the media should pick and choose what is released to the public to consume. There is some information that the public does not need to know and is not relevant, however enough information should be given to the public so they are aware of whats happening but with out getting into all of the dirty details of the crime. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

is social media good or bad for criminal trials?

As we saw in the Casey Anthony trial social media started to become a huge part of the whole trial. Photos of Casey Anthony dancing and partying just days after her two year old daughter supposedly went missing were found on social media and then used to help the prosecutors case. This has begun to happen more and more in criminal trials where prosecutors and defense lawyers use social media to help with information for the case. Everything from the defendants social media can be used for evidence, things like photos and the time and place those photos were posted can be used, we saw this in the Casey Anthony case. Not only photos are used but also times the defendant logged in and anyone he or she are friends with are used. This type of information can be extremely valuable for a lawyers case however it also poses a problem with peoples rights. Taking this kind of information has brought up problems in cases before where the government or law enforcement has violated the fourth amendm
Read more

good burglars

In order to be considered a good burglar there are four characteristics you must have according to Neal Shover.  A good burglar should posses many skills needed to commit a successful break and enter. Some of these skills may be gaining entry to peoples homes, choosing items with a high retail value, opening safes with out causing a significant amount of damage being done, and using proper equipment. The second characteristic is that the person should be able to team up and form some sort of criminal gang by choosing trust worthy members that can help get the job done. Another characteristic is that the burglar should have inside information or be able to gain inside information so they know what they need to do to be successful. The last characteristic is that the burglar should have fences or buyers lined up to purchase the stolen property they had stolen and know how to safely sell the stolen goods for profit. I think that the development of a good burglar is explained by the social
Read more

Crime Media Project

I had chosen to do my crime media project on the television program Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. While watching this program I noticed a few things that were reoccurring trends in the type of crimes that were committed in this show. The majority of the crimes committed in this program are sexual assaults and tied in with the sexual assaults in some cases there are kidnappings and murders. While watching the show I noticed that these crimes were committed because of many different reasons depending on what episode you were to watch. The most typical sexual assaults seen in the show are either one of the three types of sexual assaults, Anger sexual assault, power sexual assault or, less commonly seen in the show is sadistic sexual assault. The show also shows in some episodes gang rape and acquaintance rape or date rape. When sexual assault is committed with power as the motive its because the attacker wants to feel dominance over the victim. Power sexual assault is a way for the
Read more