Essay on "Media Impact"

Essay 4 pages (1350 words) Sources: 8

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Child Abuse and Mass Media

Mass media can have a tremendous impact on child abuse and neglect, particularly upon the ways that these issues are valued and regarded by members of society. For example, as of the writing of this paper on July 23rd, 2012, the media has been able to adequately push forward the breaking news about the penalties imposed on Penn State University, in light of the recent child abuse scandal. "The NCAA on Monday hit Penn State with a $60 million fine, banned the football team from bowl games for four years and vacated all of its wins from 1998 to 2011 in the wake of the university's child sex abuse scandal…All of Penn State's victories from 1998 through 2011 will be vacated. Coach Joe Paterno's record will reflect the vacated victories, meaning he no longer will be recognized as the NCAA's all-time winningest coach" (Kane, 2012). In this example, the mass media is able to help transmit a message of cultural change, and thus play a part in helping to create that cultural change. The rampant cases of child abuse that occurred at Penn State were able to continuously occur because of a climate of secrecy, obsessive privacy and one which had their values pathologically out of whack. The media has not only played a part in exposing this university for these unfathomable errors, but now, in the light of a conscientious decision for change and a retooling of their value system, the media can help in passing along the message that child abuse will simply not be tolerated.

The triumph of this story is not only the huge fines that will be imposed on Penn State by the NCAA nor simply the fact that all that money will go to a fund for victims of child abuse, b

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ut the fact that all of the wins that Penn State achieved during the years the child abuse occurred, are stricken from the record, as one can argue that they were all made at the expense of the souls and safety of children. While the NCAA has set an example of zero-tolerance for child abuse and is gravely punishing this university, the media plays the role of being able to convey this message to the rest of the world, thus in turn, enabling the example to be set of zero-tolerance for child abuse.

Drumming up livid outrage from the nation at years of ongoing child abuse in the case of the Penn State scandal, simply by exposing the facts is something that media can do rather effectively and something that needs to occur. Public outrage draws attention to an issue that needs to be addressed and outrage can be the catalyzing force that prevents unacceptable actions from occurring again and thus can be the origins of societal change. Once the Freeh report had been made public, the outrage of journalists, bloggers and the general public acted as a tremendous impetus for change: "There was this big, respected university with an iconic legend as its football coach. It also had a pedophile operating in its program. School officials knew this back in 1998 and covered it up. They chose this "humane" route of covering up, turning their backs and protecting themselves rather than kids for more than a decade as boys went on being raped in the campus showers and on football trips. They did this because it benefited them, was easier for them and protected what they valued most -- the football program. Could former Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno have stopped Sandusky? 'It's a very strong and reasonable inference that he could have done so if he had wished,' Freeh said'" (Engel, 2012). Here in this case, the media is also doing a tremendous favor to the general public in that they're showing things as they are. They're exposing this iconic, heroic football coach for the human being he actually was, someone so unfathomably flawed and disturbed, he would look the other way at child rape.

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Quoted Instructions for "Media Impact" Assignment:

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Collect recent newspaper articles that pertain to any aspect of child abuse and neglect: a recent case, a program, new data, a follow up article, legislation, etc. Your collection should include a variety. Recent is defined as: MAY 1st 2012 to present date

Sources will be: Local, state and national distribution newspapers that can be accessed on the internet by the public without subscription. Note: be sure your internet articles can be traced back to originally appearing in a newspaper. General information articles that often appear on websites only are not eligible sources. Also not eligible: academic journal articles, textbook articles, stories or information from Wikipedia are not permitted. Sources must be newspaper articles.

From your collection of articles, choose the best five to ten articles in order to analyze and answer the question: What effect does mass media have on child abuse and neglect?

Questions you want to ask yourself as you analyze your articles include:

-What impact does the article have on the reader?

-What value messages does the author use?

-Does the reporter appeal to the reader to adopt a specific view?

- Are there obvious omissions to the story that might have led to alternative views?

- Does the reporter offer any solutions?

- What persuasive techniques do you find in these articles? (Symbols, repetition, fear, humor, and powerful and/or sensational words are common and effective techniques of media persuasion).

We all know that the media is a very powerful social factor- the way information is presented can effect lots of different things in lots of different ways. This critical thinking project is an opportunity to read articles about child abuse and neglect in a different way than you normally would, using a different Ã¢â‚¬A"pair of thinking glassesÃ¢â‚¬Â so you can see and identify more clearly how the media is not only a reflection of societyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s values and beliefs today, but also a powerful influence on those values and beliefs.

Prepare a 4 page paper that presents your response to: *****"What effect does the media have on child abuse and neglect?*****" Your conclusions and your analysis will be the essence of the project.

Note: Do not include a detailed summary of each story in your paper. Remember: the focus of this paper is on your conclusions to your analysis. You may pull out sample quotes from articles to support your conclusions (with proper citation). You may pull out sample words, phrases or brief excerpts to illustrate one of your points. But do not provide a lengthy summary of each story. This is not an annotated bibliography or abstract writing exercise. Focus on your conclusions to your analysis.

Required format: It should be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point font, 4 pages in length (not including title or reference pages) *****

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