Unit 24 – Assignment 3 – Media portrayal and review
How positive and negative images affect public perceptions of the public services
In the media they very often take news stories of public service actions and portray them in
different ways this could be in a positive manner or a negative one which can cause the public to
perceive the public services in very different ways. I will explain the 4 main topics that the media
talk about that effects the public services the most.
Brutality
The media shows us different incidents of the public services where they are seen to be using
excessive force against members of the public often referred to as 'police brutality', in fact this name
was created by members of the public themselves after seeing a high amount of these types of posts
in the media, so already you can see how the public will come together to express their views
especially when it comes to the police. The ways this image can affect the public services is that it
can make people lose trust in the service and even become afraid of them when they see these levels
of violence being used, although most of the time the media will leave vital information out and so
you don't get the full story just the parts that make them look a certain way. Brutality perception in
the media can also lead to people taking matters into their own hands because of the anger produced
by the public after hearing/seeing these reports, becoming aggressive towards the public services
and treating them as the public enemy opposed to public protectors. Stories you see in the media
relating to this topic also have effects worldwide for example most of the cases relating to brutality
come from America and because of this whenever someone mentions the police force in America
the first thing they think of is 'Police brutality'.
Some positives however that could come from this could be for example that the HMICFRS step up
their inspections into the public services to ensure cases like this don't arise, it would also put more
pressure on the services to correctly complete their responsibilities and further their training in areas
where it comes to detaining members of the public to prevent these sort of acts from happening.
Corruption
In the public services corruption is when someone abuses their powers to receive their own personal
gain. The media love exposing any type of corruption they find this is because they know that it’s in
the public's interest. The ways this image can affect the public services is that it creates that good
cop bad cop story in people’s minds and that they will start to believe that half of the force is
corrupt when in reality out of the large amounts of corruption reports received very little of them
were actually found to be corrupt. Another negative this brings is that it may prevent people from
pursuing a career in the public services if they start listening to these media stories and again most
of this bottles down to the trust element between the service and the public. However positives that
could come from this could be again that the way they review these types of accusations are
inspected may be open to a change and it might insight guilt towards members of the public
services that may lead to them fixing their act before its too late.
How positive and negative images affect public perceptions of the public services
In the media they very often take news stories of public service actions and portray them in
different ways this could be in a positive manner or a negative one which can cause the public to
perceive the public services in very different ways. I will explain the 4 main topics that the media
talk about that effects the public services the most.
Brutality
The media shows us different incidents of the public services where they are seen to be using
excessive force against members of the public often referred to as 'police brutality', in fact this name
was created by members of the public themselves after seeing a high amount of these types of posts
in the media, so already you can see how the public will come together to express their views
especially when it comes to the police. The ways this image can affect the public services is that it
can make people lose trust in the service and even become afraid of them when they see these levels
of violence being used, although most of the time the media will leave vital information out and so
you don't get the full story just the parts that make them look a certain way. Brutality perception in
the media can also lead to people taking matters into their own hands because of the anger produced
by the public after hearing/seeing these reports, becoming aggressive towards the public services
and treating them as the public enemy opposed to public protectors. Stories you see in the media
relating to this topic also have effects worldwide for example most of the cases relating to brutality
come from America and because of this whenever someone mentions the police force in America
the first thing they think of is 'Police brutality'.
Some positives however that could come from this could be for example that the HMICFRS step up
their inspections into the public services to ensure cases like this don't arise, it would also put more
pressure on the services to correctly complete their responsibilities and further their training in areas
where it comes to detaining members of the public to prevent these sort of acts from happening.
Corruption
In the public services corruption is when someone abuses their powers to receive their own personal
gain. The media love exposing any type of corruption they find this is because they know that it’s in
the public's interest. The ways this image can affect the public services is that it creates that good
cop bad cop story in people’s minds and that they will start to believe that half of the force is
corrupt when in reality out of the large amounts of corruption reports received very little of them
were actually found to be corrupt. Another negative this brings is that it may prevent people from
pursuing a career in the public services if they start listening to these media stories and again most
of this bottles down to the trust element between the service and the public. However positives that
could come from this could be again that the way they review these types of accusations are
inspected may be open to a change and it might insight guilt towards members of the public
services that may lead to them fixing their act before its too late.
