Credibility of Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Credibility of Media - Essay Example Media credibility is the condition of believability or acceptance of its truthfulness or untruthfulness from the point of view of its audience (Starcks and Salwen, 2009), and may be expressed as a level or percentage of acceptance as in number of respondents answering in the affirmative or negative. For purposes of this paper and to enable an adventure into the pros and cons of the thesis statement, media shall be deemed to enjoy some reasonable acceptance by its publics, given that it has enjoyed public viewing since time unknown. Hence, the question: Is media becoming less and less credible? Recently, CBS News released the results of a survey by Pew Research Center for the People and the Press of people’s perception of media taken sometime in 2009 (CBSNews, 2009). The survey indicated that nearly two-thirds of Americans think that the news stories that they read, hear and watch are frequently inaccurate (CBSNews, 2009). The Center described these results as the highest level of skepticism ever recorded since 1985 when the first study was conducted. Other studies such as this would be presented in this paper to provide a wide-angle picture of the issue of credibility in media. It is the purpose of this paper to take this closer look at media in its most common forms and analyse critically the trend it is taking insofar as its acceptability to the public is concerned. The paper shall present secondary information to support its thesis regarding this media direction and provide some observations and conclusions that may add insight and value the literature available on the matter. Media Credibility What is media and what does it mean to most people? The concept of media traces back to the times old as far back as Aristotle. History is abundant in treatment of the development of media as it captures the essence of life in what is to be known as civilization. Man always looked for vehicles that would translate his ideas and values. In the early times, these representations could be found in the primitive expressions etched in stones and later, as the medium developed, in the traditional media. The theories varied but generally focused on source, message and audience type, and the issue has been the audience’s trust as a result of the audience’s knowing what is true (Stacks and Salwen, 2009). Media, then, according to Mayo and Nohria (2005), pertained largely to its use mostly by advertisers as communication vehicles for

Police misconduct Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Police misconduct - Term Paper Example Biases and prejudices motivate police officers to take inappropriate actions on certain occasions. These inappropriate actions are usually labelled under police misconduct. This paper analyses different types of police misconduct. â€Å"Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck is under fire from his civilian bosses, who increasingly are troubled by his reluctance to punish officers they found had killed or wounded people unjustifiably "(Rubin). The major objective of any criminal justice system is not to punish any innocent person even if thousands of criminals escaped from punishment. In other words, criminal justice system should make sure that enough evidences are there to punish a person. Police officers are responsible for the collection of evidences against the culprits. In certain cases, investigating officers may face lot of pressure from different corners to speed up the investigation process. In such cases, police complete the investigation process in a hurry to satisfy the p ublic demand. Imagine a situation in which a famous celebrity is killed. The killer could be an influential person in the society. Even if police gets enough evidences against the killer, it is not evidently that he may be arrested. The killer may offer bribes and the police may investigate the case as directed by the actual killer. The demand for the speedy arrest of the killer from the public may force the investigating officer to arrest somebody in connection with that murder. The actual killer or the police may present another person (a rented person) as the killer in front of the public. In such cases, police fabricate evidence against the rented person and arrest him to satisfy the public. This person may escape from punishment since it is difficult for the police to prove the crime against him in the courts. In short, the nexus between the police and criminals often result in police misconducts. â€Å"A 37-man force that patrols a gritty square-mile city south of downtown Lo s Angeles -- has become a haven for misfit cops who have been pushed out of other law enforcement agencies for crimes or serious misconduct† (Lait and Glover) BBC (3 April 2013) reported that â€Å"Kent Police officer Eileen Arthurs jailed for misconduct. Kent Police said she carried out unauthorised checks using the force's computers. The force said Arthurs had accessed the records of her friend, who was known to police, on several occasions with no professional reason to do so† (Kent Police officer Eileen Arthurs jailed for misconduct). On many occasions, police use its power to intrude into the personal details of the people. It is a fact that police officers can gather any information about a person if they have enough reasons to do so. However, it is illegal to intrude into the personal records of a person without a legitimate reason. â€Å"Responding to police misconduct is an essential step towards protecting yourself and your community from future police abuseà ¢â‚¬  (How do I report police misconduct?). Staying away from reporting police misconduct will encourage the police officers to repeat the crime again. When people show more readiness to report police misconduct, police officers may think twice before doing an illegal activity. â€Å"