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The Media's Effect on the Public's Perception of Law Enforcement

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In this paper I examined whether the media, for example news outlets and social media sites, had any effect on how the public viewed police officers. I wanted to see if the police and citizen incidents that were dominating the airwaves actually happened as frequently as it seemed, whether the…

In this paper I examined whether the media, for example news outlets and social media sites, had any effect on how the public viewed police officers. I wanted to see if the police and citizen incidents that were dominating the airwaves actually happened as frequently as it seemed, whether the media and social media outlets had anything to do with the increase of these types of incidents, and if these incidents and reporting styles had any effect, negative or positive, on how citizens watching viewed police officers. I think it is important to see if the media can influence the way citizens think especially in regards to law enforcement officers because their role in society is crucial to keeping everyone safe and peaceful. I also believe it is important to see how these citizens are being influenced. Ultimately, I wanted to see if I could prove that the media and social media have an effect on how citizens view police officers through the way they report on certain issues. In order to do this I conducted research looking into the various news reports that have been going on, I also looked into the different issues going on and looked at research going into both the sides of police officers and media outlets. I also conducted my own research by interviewing four police officers three retired and one active, as well as distributing a survey asking specific questions relating to my thesis to college students ages 18 and over. At the end of all this research I found that media does in fact have an effect on the opinions of citizens because they seem to report on only negative incidents or those dealing with different races. Social media also plays a big part by allowing everyone to see clips of incidents without any information allowing people to form uneducated biased opinions and running with it. Which in turn influences citizens to think a certain way and believe in "facts" that are not true.
ContributorsMoreno, Christiana J. (Author) / Johnston, Coy (Thesis director) / Cerven, James (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Social Work (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12