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Introduction
In any society, the media is relied upon to provide information on the events that happen both locally and internationally. The media is trusted to provide unbiased information, but this is not always the case. In the essay, we will try and find out if the media is an enemy of law enforcement.
The first amendment to the US constitution states that:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances (Norton, 1996).
The press clause in this amendment has seen the media exercise too much freedom in their dissemination of information. The media is characterized by the reporting of news that interest the public so as to boost their ratings.
They therefore, use any means that they think are entertaining and appealing to their audience. In the area of crime, the media puts crime news in contexts that can be understood by the masses. The media ensures that there is policy accountability in their course of duty. The media ensures this by exposing inefficiency and corruption cases (Norton, 1996).
However, the media has not been all that partial in the dissemination of information and this has, on many occasions, been a problem to law enforcers. Because the media knows that their rights are protected by the constitution, they have gone to the extent of dwelling more on major misconduct from law enforcers.
The media ignores or does not cover everyday activities of the police because such events are not pleasing to the audience and will therefore, not raise their ratings. Police work is often distorted by the media which tends to only concentrate on crime and ignores other police activities not related to crime. They therefore, only highlight the negative side of law enforcement (Freedom, 2008).
This problem is also experienced in court cases whereby the media is often accused of press releases of information that should not be released before court cases are discharged. This has, on some occasions affected court decisions because jurors will have already formed prejudices about the case.
Too much publicity also risks having an impartial jury, the constitutions protects the media, meaning that courts have to employ other measures such as changing the venue. When writing the constitution, the writers knew that it was necessary to protect citizens from the government. They knew that it was important to let people air out their sentiments, but one should take caution about what he gives to the public (Freedom, 2008).
All has not been that bad with the media. For instance, the media helped in the capture of the Oklahoma City bomber when they aired it on the radio and ran sketches of the suspects on television. The Washington post also helped in the capture of the Unabomber when it published his manifesto.
On reading the manifesto, the brother quickly recognized it and alerted the police who apprehended him. However, in the “Alfred P. Murrah Federal office building” bombing case, the two accused men filed a request to dismiss the prosecution because they said that the trial had been prejudiced by the publicity made by the media. Their plea was accepted, but court proceedings were transferred to another court (Summary, n.d).
Conclusion
These cases show that media plays a very important role in the world and whether it is negative or positive, the forefathers were not mistaken, and the media should be free to provide checks and balances where necessary.
References
Freedom. (2008). Freedom of the Press. America Government. Web.
Norton, J. (1996). United States Constitution Amendments Article I of the Bill of Rights. Bare Foot Sword. Web.
Summary. (n.d). Summary and Conclusion. Web.
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