Writing Homework Help

Students shall complete a critical essay focusing on news media and crime. The main foci should be thee first two units of the course, “News Media and Crime”, including evolution and history of media and crime, moral and social panics, construction of crime, and schema, frames and narratives. The critical essay should at the very least include course-assigned readings as sources, which in turn need to be appropriately cited per APA standards. Literature or resources above and beyond that will increase likelihood of a better score. Use the following questions as informal prompts (your responses should not be the be-all-end-all of your paper) but make sure to adequately achieve the below listed expectations. 

Prompts

What is the importance of news outlets covering crime and other issues related to the criminal justice system? 

Some may say the media portrayal of crime and certain individuals committing crimes does more bad than good. If that is so, is it a necessary evil? 

How would society be different, in terms of crime, were media not focused on it?

At the end of the day, is the criminal justice system stronger or weaker as a result of news coverage?

Expectations

• Explore the change in the role of reporting crime/news across time, in different contexts and across different media
• Evaluate the role of mass media in reporting crime, representing the criminal justice system, showing victims and offenders.
• Discuss the impact of moral and social panics on society
• Analyze biases that exist with reporting of crime and representation of story narratives
• Evaluate what macro-level and contextual factors influence framing of crime stories in the media