Media Essays Media Fiction Fact

Media Essays Media Fiction positionMedia Fiction FactMedia portrayals of judge, be they fabrication or occurrence, argon inevitably distortions of solidity. hash out with reference to the modules depictings and, if relevant, illustrate with specific deterrent examples drawn from the seminars macrocosmI think we cease say that the humanss military cap mightiness to the lament fit justice system of rules is greatly, probably dominantly, affected and influenced by what they read in newsprints, hear on radio, watch on tv and, without delay of course, see on the internet. In new(prenominal) words the media. As the famed sancti hotshotd journalist, Marcel Berlins explains, the media has become a positionful and signifi force outt quotation of good in inningation and a means by which several(a)(prenominal) perceptions close to the integrity atomic number 18 formed and shaped.The concern however, is that the media is excessively receptive of persuading raf t to adopt and endorse nonions al nearly the wakeless system that argon found on misconceptions, fictitious facts or prejudice. By using divers(a) images and sounds the media is qualified to influence the globes reaction to healthy issues, and dispose the earth to accept the medias distorted stead.The question thence becomes whether either media checkations ar a distortion of universe or whether the media is also capable of stainlessly portraying the honor. Information and re bearations become distorted when they are presented in a manner that is misleading and inconsistent with their original form. The case of Caesar neaten is a clear illustration of medias ability to present the rectitude in a manner that f e very(prenominal)s within the definition of distortion.Caesar g means commenced a class action uprightnesssuit against non-homogeneous close victuals restaurants for failing to inform the public intimately the harmful risks associated with the consum ption of fast food. Although, the aim of the honorsuit was to raise public awareness and attempt to arrive at macro corporations leg each(prenominal)y accountable for their pervasive deceptions, the media, in an attempt to root for readers, go ford dissimilar tactics to undermine the importance and socio-legal implications of the case. Various newspapers and reputable journalists used catchy phrases, humorous pictures and witty head defines to give the account statement an fun quality and create market value. agree to or so commentators, the media must haunt to these theatrical antics and hammy techniques in order to retain its mass accumulation. As Margaret Thornton nones, the media are forced to present distorted images of the legal system in order to secure ratings and retain its power and influence everywhere the public Accurate portrayals, such(prenominal)(prenominal) as the Ameri stick out TV series, report card Chase, which was located in a law school, stud y had to be pull a right smart because of their un habituality.Similarly, the exploration and explication of legal doctrine are c all(prenominal) backed to be too drowsy and complex for popular media. Thus, as a business, the media responds to market pressures by employing various tactics to depict consumers including using misleading headlines and false images to incite turned on(p) responses.It is precisely because the media picks and chooses what to focus on, that they inevitably misrepresent the law and blur the line betwixt fact and fabrication. Events are outlined as being fake if they are un trustworthy, imaginary or base on a false belief. Although the term fiction is usually equated with the imagination, fictitious events can include actually people and experiences, exactly are primarily thoughted as a form of enjoyment.In contrast, a fact is usually equated with truth and universe and is defined in law as a thing that is indisputably the case or the truth nigh events as opposed to interpretation. The distinction amongst fact and fiction is fading as humans is becoming to a greater extent fictionalized with the medias use of narrative devices such(prenominal) as metaphors. It is the medias ability to present their edition of the study in a big money-to-earth manner that makes it problematic for the public to discern the truth.Although on that point is strong sustain for the contrast that media portrayals of the law, be they fiction or fact, are inevitably distortions of currentity, the real issue is whether this is indeed a cause for concern. M each media critics are concerned that the media will inevitably undermine the publics arrogance in the workbench, lawyers and the legal system.This concern is founded on the judgment that the media is the chief or sole seeded exploiter of legal reading, and that auditions are incapable of resisting media influences in formulating their opinions intimately the law. The aim of this paper therefore, will be to explore the relationship amongst the media and the law, and examine the ways in which the media distorts the law by means of representations of verity based on fact and fiction. The last part of the paper will be devoted to examining whether or non the medias ability to misrepresent the law is indeed as problematic and worrisome as it first push throughs. birth in the midst of the media and the lawThe media and the law are inextricably linked in a number of ways. Firstly, the media is the subject of legal discourse. Lawyers, judges and policy makers are constantly involved in the regulation of different forms of media such as the radio, television, newspapers, and the internet. Media regulation has become an important legal issue and attempts flip been do to develop rules restricting media content and to determine who should contribute control over the production of media forms.Secondly, the law and media are connected through media co mmunications about the law and legal events. Whether it is an advertisement for a law firm, a reality motor inn programme, a newspaper article on a live legal event, or an internet blog on a polemical legal issue, the media is a constant source of legal selective information. Although the law is probably most visible in highly institutionalized places such as the courts, law firms and police stations, it is also present through media representations of nuisance and justice.It is through media portrayals of law that the relationship between the law and media manifests itself. As Sheila Brown states, By depicting the processes of law and justice within the dramatic conventions of reality TV, courtroom soap opera, the voyeurism of human interest, and the aesthetics of visuality, media culture and the law sometimes appear to become indivisible domains.The relationship between the media and the law is raise strengthen by the fact that both are present in our cursory lived experie nce. A common sense approach to consciousness the concept of the unremarkable feel suggests that it is the periodic act of conducting ones twenty-four hour period-to-day universe of discourse. Based on this view, the everyday is just a representation of individual experiences that impact on the formation of ones opinions and identity.Since the everyday life is interwoven into human experience it is both patently obvious and unfathomable because it is much inviten-for-granted. As Austin Sarat and Thomas R. Kearns none, quoting from Schutz and Luckmanns Structures of the Life World, The make upence of everyday life is consequently mans vestigial and prevalent realityIt is the unexamined ground of everything given in my experiencethe get rid ofn-for-granted frame in which all the problems which I must overcome are placed.The law is representative of the everyday life because it is an integral part of our daily routine and forgathers a significant role in various aspec ts of our life such as our family, career, community and education. From filing for divorce, to claiming sexual harassment in the workplace, or to suffering an injury at the hands of a drunk device driver we encounter the law on a daily basis in its various shapes and forms.It is precisely because the law is an integral part of our every day experience that it becomes a dominant source of knowledge that helps shape experiences, interpretations, and understandings of accessible life. However, because the law is a component of ones daily routine and habits, people are in the main unaware of the laws influence over their daily experiences and conceptions of social life.The akin principle can be said to apply to the media. Like the law, the media penetrates our daily lives, helps formulate our understanding of social reality, and its influence and power in shaping individual perceptions of the world is frequently ignored. Thus, the media are a good deal viewed as both entertainers a nd an agents of socialization who play a significant role in shaping the publics understanding of the law and legal processes.As a dominant source of legal information, the media is often viewed as the primary means by which the law is able to become a part of the everyday life. The media educates the public about lawyers, judges and criminals and provides its own perspective on what the law is and how it works. It is the medias ability to teach us about the law that has led legal scholars to critically examine the relationship between the media and the law. The concern is that the medias use of sensationalized headlines not however misinforms the public by presenting distorted images of legal reality only when also undermines the publics confidence in the legal system.Media distorts legal realityOn January 25, 2007, one of the BBC news headlines read, Risk of suffering crime organizes The risk of becoming a victim of crime in England and Wales is come up for the first time sinc e 1995, figures suggest. Anyone reading this headline would automatically be under the plan that, according to official figures, crime is on the rise and is a serious issue in England. The problem with this headline and otherwise newspaper reports about crime is that it does not accurately reflect the reality of criminal behaviour.Statistical evidence produced and gathered by the Home smirch indicates that contrary to the BBC report, unfounded crime has fallen or remained stable since 1995. Furthermore, any rises in crime can be attributed to procedural disparities arising from the number of crimes account and recorded by the police in any particular year. Although the textbook of the BBC article makes reference to these findings, noting that the increase in crime is as yet bring low than the total percent recorded in 1995, this information is contained further down in the text of the article.Thus, the large number of readers who merely skim newspaper headlines will be misle d into thinking that the general level of crime in England is change magnitude. This suggests that what the media chooses to focus on can give rise to public misconceptions about the criminal justice system. The question then is if the media has such a large impact on peoples perceptions about the law, then why do they insist on distorting representations of crime?People broadly speaking use their spare time to engage in activities that are both reposeful and fun and that help them unwind from the stresses of everyday life. During these leisurely moments, people generally watch television, listen to the radio, surf the internet, or read the newspaper.In this way, the media is often viewed as a pastime, as both a source of entertainment and a means by which one is able to distract oneself from the complexities of life. As McQuail states, The media are often sought out precisely as an choice to and an escape from reality.What people seem to forget during their leisurely pursuits is that the media is still a business, whose primary goal is to sell the product of entertainment and information to its consumers. The media is subject to various market pressures and as such its principle fair game is to leave profits by using a variety of techniques to drag consumers. Since the medias principle objective is to sell its product, the media is not focused on representing a true pattern of what is going on in the world.As was seen with the BBC news headline, the media use various marketing tools such as sensationalized headlines to attract its auditory modality. Events are only reported in the media if they resonate with the public and attract viewers. As is noted by McQuail, The simple fact that the mass media are generally oriented to the interest of their auditory modalitys as consumers of information and entertainment can soft account for most of the evidence of reality distortion.A clear example of media distortion is the fact that the press only concentrate s on a small number of criminal offences which include serious crimes such as murder and sexual assault or celebrity crimes. As is noted by Thornton, The dramatic potential of criminal litigation is overpoweringly preferred, in which everything is biased and distorted for dramatic effect. Within the crime show genre itself, cherry-red crimes are disproportionately over represented.Although these fibres of cases matter, they often leave the viewer with misconceptions regarding the general level of crime. The recent British plague Survey indicates that in 2006/2007 the total number of domestic burglary crimes reported by the police was 292.3 thousand compared to the 19.2 thousand reports of crime that constitute serious military unit against the person such as homicide or serious wounding.Although the threat of being a victim of burglary is higher than that of homicide, the media tend to focus its reports on violent crimes because the seriousness of these types of offences trigg ers an emotional response in the viewer thereby increasing media productivity and profits. This type of slanted reporting leads the public to grossly overvaluation the amount of serious violent crimes, in relation to all other crimes.As Berlins notes in his lecture, I suppose what Im dictum is that the media, in its totality, does probably irreversibly convey a distorted view of the state of crime and punishment, that therefore in turn, the public, which takes much of its information as well as its attitudes from the media, holds misguided views on the subject. Thus, while the media only reports that which will give rise to public emotion, the public, who view the media as a primary source of legal information, uses these reports to formulate their own views about the criminal justice system.The danger is that this type of reporting will erode the publics confidence in the legal system. As Garapon notes, by placing us under the legal power of the emotions, the media are in fact distancing us from the jurisdiction of the law. Public confidence in the legal system and the judiciary is an important issue. A escape of confidence in state institutions, and in particular the court system, may lead to a form of vigilante justice.For instance, when Sarah Payne, an eight-year old girl, was sexually assaulted and murdered, the News of the Worlds rag week do a plea for the public endorsement of a law that would drop out the public access to a sex offender registry. After the tabloid ran this report, vigilante groups began attacking the homes of families they mistakenly believed were pedophiles. Thus, if the public, through media portrayals, is under the promption that violent crime is on the rise or that the courts and police are not doing enough to keep criminals out of society, then they may attempt to take justice into their own hands.A regular pattern across all research in this area suggests that the majority of the public does not have confidence in the courts particularly in relation to sentencing. Mike Hough and Julian Roberts conducted a study on the sentencing trends in Britain and found that judgesreceived significantly more negative evaluations than any othergroup of criminal justice professionals. The public systematicallyunder-estimate the severity of sentencing patterns, and thisis significantly related to attitudes to sentencers.This lack of confidence appears to emanate from a significant lack of knowledge about how the system works and the levels of sentencing. Since public opinion about the legal system is influenced by media reports about crime, it would follow that the publics ignorance about the judiciary and sentencing is substantially based on media representations which are mostly inaccurate. However, not all media portrayals of the law are entirely unfounded or inaccurate.As Berlins notes, I dont want to give the impression that most people get most of their information and opinions from bad fiction on the tel ly. After all, television also gives us some very good, informative, sober documentaries. However, Berlins goes on to state that while there are accurately depicted representations of crime and justice in the media, viewers tend to not be interested in these shows and they are usually withdrawn because of their unpopularity.The Media distorts the law disregarding if they represent the facts or fictionsThe issue then is whether the media is incapable of producing legal narratives that are based on facts and not fiction. Recently, the L.A. measure, a predominant American newspaper, released the story of Mychal bell shapes guilty plea in the Jena sixsome case. In the Jena sextette case, six blackamoor teenagers, including Mychal Bell, were accused of assaulting Justin Baker, a uninfected teenager, at their highschool in Jena, Louisiana.The media claimed that the assault resulted from a racially-motivated incident at the highschool, where three white students hung nooses from a tree that black students were allegedly command from sitting under. Mychal Bell was the only member of the Jena Six group who was supercharged with attempted murder. Bells charges were subsequently reduced and after invoke guilty to a second-degree battery charge he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.The public viewed Bells prosecution as being unreasonable and racially discriminatory particularly in comparison to the way white offenders were treated in similar offences. The L.A. Times coverage of Bells guilty plea sensationalized the issue of racism while at the same time omitting relevant facts relating to Bells sentence. Although the L.A. Times story appears to fortune out the true facts of the story in relation to Bells sentence, they overlook the fact that Bell had a previous criminal record. previous(prenominal) convictions on an offenders record is considered an aggravating factor that the court will take into account when determining an appropriate sentence. Thus, as one commentator notes, the L.A. Times, in addressing the issue of whether the sentence was excessive and racially-motivated, should have noted that information concerning Bells previous convictions was a factor in the sentencing decisionThis is a story about whether a criminal prosecution of young black males for a violent crime was too harsh. Any responsible story addressing that topic would fully describe the perpetrators criminal histories especially histories of similar behavior. This information is absolutely vital to assessing whether his treatment at the hands of law enforcement was unnecessarily harsh and by not mentioning his priors, the paper implies to most rational readers that he has no criminal history at all.Assuming the aim of the L.A. Times report was simply to inform readers of recent developments in the Jena Six case, this example demonstrates that by focusing on certain facts, at the exclusion of others, the media is able to create a fictional reality which sub stantiates its own hasty judgments. A local reporter in Jena, Louisiana, commented on the medias coverage of Jena Six and high fairylikeed several myths reported by the media noting The media got most of the basics wrong. In fact, I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism.Myths replaced facts, and journalists abdicated their solemn duty to investigate every claim because they were seduced by a powerfully appealing but false narrative of racial injustice. Among the number of facts the media neglected to report was that evidence given by both witnesses and defendants showed that the noose incident, which took place three months prior to the assault of Justin Baker, was not only a prank against a group of white not black students, but was also unrelated to the attack.Thus, the media, by picking which facts to report and by drawing unsubstantiated correlations between various facts, have presented a distorted picture of this case. Although, the facts prese nted by the media in the Jena Six case are in and of themselves true, the manner in which they are presented leads to a blurring of the line between fact and fiction.It is for these reasons that the media is generally charged with presenting a flawed and distorted version of the law. As Richard Nobles and David Schiff note, the media misreads law for its own purposes. This misreading has the capacity to generate what, within the media itself, are described as crises of confidence in the presidency of justice.Distinguishing between fact and fiction has become a difficult task for media consumers. Fictional events are becoming more realistic through various television programs that dramatize the law and the judicial system such as Ally McBeal and Peoples Court (UK). These television shows cut a conceptual reality that viewers can identify with.How then is it viable for a viewer of these types of programmes to be able to distinguish between fact and fiction when the real object of t hese shows is to provide neither? According to J. Street, the distinction between fact and fiction is not one that can be discerned by simply watching these shows but is rather a skill that must be learned. The idea that the line between fact and fiction is becoming more and more difficult to discern is not something that is recent or that has emerged with the introduction of reality TV.The media has always used various tools to impose a certain amount of fictionalization on real issues. In addition to using sensationalized headlines and twisting facts by playing on words, the media also uses metaphors as an expression of categories of reality. Metaphors are used in media crime reporting in order to present complex legal issues in a clear and straightforward manner that makes them more real and easy for an hearing to relate to.Metaphors such as justice is imposture, war on terror, cold-blooded murderer, lawyers are leeches and if it doesnt fit you must acquit are used by the media to represent a particular angle on a legal story by relating that perspective to human experience. For example, the metaphor lawyers are leeches will impress upon anyone who has had a negative experience with a lawyer or who has had to even up an excessive amount for legal representation.The media is able, through the use of these metaphors to paint a certain picture for the viewer that they are able to connect with because the set and emotions attached to these metaphors resonate with the everyday. As Brown notes, What gives such metaphors their resonance is not actually their distortion of reality it is their proximity to experience. Metaphors, however, can also distort representations of the truth in crime reporting. For example, the metaphor justice is projection screen is used to signify the fact that the judiciary is an impartial and independent automobile trunk whose job is to apply the law equally and fairly to all persons regardless of class, race or gender.However, wh at is lost in this metaphor is that justice is not always adversarial and can be achieved through alternative methods to dispute gag rule such as mediation and negotiation. Nevertheless, even if the media generates a fictional story, by using metaphors taken from the real world the media is able to connect with the public. As a result, metaphors do not necessarily have to be accurate in order for the media to be able to unite with the public through common experience.Another way the media is able to connect with the public in disseminating information about the law is by turning readers or viewers into judges, providing them with all the material necessary for them to make the judgments themselves. The facts, legal issues and judgments surrounding court-room type shows are introduced to the viewer as the media sees it and as such, there is no room for mediation, argument or debate.The media exam is presented in a story-the likes of fashion like any good novelist, the media tailo rs the sequence of events and uses characters, imagery, and symbolism to guide its viewers into stretchiness a pre-determined judgment. By setting the stage and employing various theatrical tools, the media wrong leads its viewers into believing that the outcome of the media trial corresponds with their own opinions about the law and justice. Although the media is able to provide instantaneous justice, by compressing the complexities of a legal proceeding into a 30 minute clip, the media ignores the fact that a trial is an extremely complex and sophisticated device and that just and fair decisions are reached only through careful consideration of all the facts, evidence and testimony.Thus, media trials have the ability to undermine the role of the judiciary and the publics doctrine in the legal system, by impressing upon its viewers the belief that justice is easily ascertained without deliberation. Garapon elaborates on this point stating, The trial is able to control the way in which the facts are presented, proved and interpreted. On the television, however, a construction of reality is implicit and thus directly experienced and thus escapes both examination and discussion. Hence, as Garapon further notes in preferring seduction to reasoned argument, the media are able to display a version of the truth at the expense of truth itself.Although the medias main role is to entertain, the media is viewed by the public as a major distributor of legal information. Since the media uses various dramatic techniques to relate information regarding the law to its viewers, the public is generally unaware that the media simply has no regard for whether or not the information they are relaying is true or accurate. It is in this way that the distinction between fact and fiction becomes harder for the public to discern. The public adopts the medias conception of legal reality and as a result views the law in a negative light and loses confidence in the criminal justice s ystem. This is not to suggest that all media content is based on false assumptions or inaccurate facts, but more often then not accounts of the law are misapprehensions of the truth.Is there a valid reason for concern over distorted media portrayals of the law?All research in respect of the effect media has on popular conceptions of the law suggests that media portrayals of the law, whether they are based on fact or fiction, present a distorted version of legal reality. As noted earlier, the medias power to distort the law and present fictions as legal truths causes anxiety in the legal community. Again, the concern is that media misrepresentations about the law may unload the publics faith in the legal system.The administration of justice and the independence of the judiciary are important value that safeguard the fundamental rights of every individual in society. Without these principles, justice, fairness and equality would cease to exist and society would revert back to a state of war where everyone fends for themselves. The media, as the voice of public opinion, ought to be troubled by the role they play and the influence they have in undermining the publics confidence in the legal system. This is particularly so when examining the medias power over the public from an effects-based approach.The effects model suggests that media users are like sponges in that they simply clear media content without any reflection or analysis. This is disconcerting given that some researchers have suggested that information from the media and other sources are absorbed into the mind and filed into bins and that when make heuristic judgments, people extract the information from these bins and often fail to consider that the information extracted could be from fictitious sources.Based on this approach, individuals who have not learned to decipher between fact and fiction, are in danger of formulating erroneous beliefs about the law that are based on stereotypes, half-truth s and clichs.On the other hand, it can be argued that because viewers and readers are generally media-savvy they are cognizant of the medias power to mislead and as such do not rely on media generated content about the law when make value judgments about the legal system. As Lieve Gies notes, Most individuals are sufficiently media-savvy to be aware that newspapers and television cannot always be regarded as the most reliable or authoritative sources of knowledge.People are capable of detecting the medias deceptions and distortions, which means that they are not prepared to put all their eggs in the medias basket. Thus, instead of simply bewitching the televised message like a sponge, viewers and readers are able to decode media communications and attach entirely new and different nitty-grittys to the media text. The idea that media users are capable of scrutinizing media content and are actively engaged in the construction of their own reality is based on the active audience app roach to understanding media effects on the law.According to the active audience approach, media users are not merely cultural dopes who submit to the medias power without reflection and examination. A concern raised by advocates of the active audience approach is that media effects studies overlook the fact that audiences are able to harbour their own independence and views when engaging the media. Instead, research in this area generally starts from the presumption that the media is to blame.As is noted by David Gauntlett, The problem with much media effects research, however, is that researchers have jumped straight to the second stage investigating the media and its possible effects without even bothering with the first one, namely checking whether any notable suspects have in fact been affected.Stuart Halls analysis of the media further suggests that any content received by viewers and readers through various media forms is hollow and sumless until the viewer or reader deci phers the text and assigns meaning to it. Halls reception analysis model suggests that readers and viewers consciously refuse to give into media influences and instead attach their own set of values to the information being conveyed through media texts.However, as Gies points out, The potential blind stain in reception analysis is that it may still end up giving the media too much preponderance and ignore other influential sources of knowledge. Nevertheless, the thrust of the argument in both the active audience approach and the reception analysis model is that the medias powers to shape ones understanding of the law will vary depending on the meaning that one attaches to media messages which is dependent on ones cultural perspective ones class, race and gender.As is noted by Gies, In constructionist analyses of media culture, it is the socio-cultural background of people, and not the media products they consume, which is seen as a more reliable predictor of how they construct soc ial meaning. For instance, in Canada, the majority of the images presented on the television depict a Western conception of reality. Since Canada is an ethically and culturally several(a) country there are many citizens who have differing cultural perspectives and identities. It is therefore dif