Media/criminal Justice

3 Pages 687 Words

Every day, across America, crimes are being committed, criminals are being apprehended, and then processed through the justice system. While this cycle is taking place, the media has to decide which of these stories will get the front page of the newspaper, which story will talk radio discuss during your morning traffic jam, and what stories could possibly be turned into made for T.V. movies. The news organizations can cover any stories that they choose, good or bad. More often than not they will cover a story involving some heinous and atrocious act. Something so bad that it will make people ask, “What kind of person could do such a thing?” While this is part of the media’s responsibility, they tend to single out certain crimes and use the victims and the defendants as characters for their own brand of reality television.
One example of this was the recent trial of California manure salesman, Scott Peterson. For over one year, all major American news networks devoted hours of time each day to covering the testimonies and evidence that eventually led to his murder conviction. While this was taking place, day in and day out, there were many more everyday crimes that no one, aside from the people involved, ever heard about. Shortly after the verdict in the Scott Peterson case, a 36 year-old man by the name of Chai Vang murdered six people, men and women, on the opening weekend of deer season, after a dispute with him for hunting on their land. For one reason or another, this story has not received much publicity nationwide.
Sometimes the name of the defendant alone is enough to cause the media to go into a frenzy. In the summer of 1994, retired football star and Hertz rental car spokesperson O.J. Simpson was arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Beverly Hills waiter, Ronald Goldman. In the media’s eyes, this story took top priority over all most everything else happening in the world. Eventually, Mr...