In what ways do the media overdramatize crime? There are many forms of media that overdramatize crime, mostly homicides. There are books, television shows, movies, and even news stories that show or talk about the crime in an unrealistic manner. However, in an article by Jason Jensen, there was mention that the crime rate has remained “fairly steady” and has even declined some since 1993. Jensen had taken this information from an article entitled Fundamentals of criminal justice: A sociological view, by authors S. E. Barken and G. J. Bryjak (Jensen Private Investigations Website, 2012). Media overdramatizes crime in two ways according to this article. First of all, the way the media presents crime stories to begin with, and focusing on violent crimes for the second way (Jensen, 2012).
What effect does the media treatment of crime have on public opinion? Americans say they get important information from the media. For example: one national survey showed 81% of the people based their opinions on how bad the crime problem was reported to be by listening to the news. Others (41%) said TV was a determinate, 37% said magazines are where they got their information, and 36% blamed newspapers. Most people say all forms of the media are extremely powerful. They feel the media can inject their own point of view into their audience, and influence their decisions (Beale, 2006). At the other end of the discussion, some people think the media has very little influence on any