Media and the Criminal Justice System

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Institution

Media and The Criminal Justice System

In the modern age of advanced technology, information is fast and readily made available to consumers. Consequentially, the media is significantly involved in ways that have helped to reach and provide information to their consumers through gadgets such as television, social media platforms, and radios. The mainstream media and social media have had a crucial impact on the criminal justice system by spreading information to the public, which has led to massive changes in the area. 

Mainstream media, which includes broadcast media and newspapers, are a popular source of information among people. People rely on them for news coverage, provision of information, education, and articulating their grievances. The mainstream media has a significant influence on the criminal justice system. One of the main impacts of mainstream media on criminal justice systems is that it highlights its weaknesses to improve it. Historically, mainstream media has put pressure on the government and other stakeholders to create an equitable criminal justice system. One of the most successful roles that the mainstream media played in influencing the criminal justice system was during the Civil Rights Movement. During the time, the mainstream media highlighted the plight of Blacks in America. The mainstream media covered stories of deep-rooted racism in American society, which included policy brutality and high incarceration rates among African Americans (Schultz, 2019). The stories covered by the mainstream media led to the improvement of Blacks and People of Color’s lives in the United States through the introduction of better policies. The policy changes introduced in criminal justice during the Civil Rights Movement era were a testament to the role mainstream media plays in creating an equitable society. 

In recent years, social media has emerged as a popular and choice among people for news, entertainment, and information. In recent years, it has played an important role in putting pressure on the criminal justice system with a view of creating change. Popular social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are now crucial ways of sensitizing, informing, and mobilizing people. In 2020, social media has been significantly used to mobilize people against policy brutality and bring change to the department of the criminal justice system. The recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which was captured by a witness, was spread via social media to millions of people worldwide. The clip, which illustrated a common problem of police brutality, sparked widespread protests in the United States, which have led to significant changes in police departments across the United States. The pressure created by the protests has put the criminal justice system in a spotlight and contributed to various defunding efforts (Rubinstein and Mays, 2020). 

The morning news had a few news stories on the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system news was fairly written and investigated. The journalists were fair and did not seem to portray any particular bias. I noticed that most of the criminal justice systems involved police brutality issues, which have been the main component of news stories in 2020. 

Reference

Rubinstein, D., & Mays, J. (2020, June 30) Nealy $1billion is shifted from police in budget that pleases no one. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/nyregion/nypd-budget.htmlSchultz J. (2019). Media coverage of law enforcement and effects of the image created. Dominican Scholar, https://scholar.dominican.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1150&context=senior-theses