Journalism - A Media and Journalist Perspective

Journalism - A Media and Journalist Perspective

Introduction

The activity or process of gathering and preparing visual, written or audio materials to be presented to the public with the aid of public media is known as journalism. It is a very unique art of portraying the news or story from a completely unique point of view. There are several kinds of journalism techniques all which are utilized according to the audience to which the news or story is to be provided. There was media coverage in the month of April 2013 in New Zealand, about a 'Beast', for whom legal steps were being taken in order to keep watch over him properly. This beast is not an animal; he is in fact, a human being. But his actions were the reasons for the media to portray him as a beast to the public. Mr. Stewart M. Wilson, who was endowed with the title of 'Beast of Blenheim', is a citizen of New Zealand born in Timaru, NZ. He spent the 20s of his life in Australia, and finally returned to New Zealand by settling in Blenheim. He is infamous for a series of serious sexual offenses that even extend o offenses against children. Having served about eighteen years in prison, he was eventually released on parole with quite strict conditions of release that had been imposed in the history of New Zealand on a person. These comprised of even limiting the location of his home on the prison grounds, however, his parole was short lived due to the outrage from citizens of the local council. He was immediately put in prison again in 2013 (February) as a direct consequence of a call he made to someone he was not authorized, under his parole conditions, to make contact with under any circumstances (NZN, 2012; Quilliam, 2012; Powley, 2012; Apnz 2013). Numerous articles related to the 'beast' have been used (mostly from New Zealand) to try and comprehend how journalism works about in framing and positioning the offenders in the eyes of the general public.

Discussion

Significant News Values

The media utilized the emotional traits of the people and brought about a 'raging' reaction towards Mr. Stewart M. Wilson. He was portrayed as an uncivilized 'animal' - a beast to be exact - that had no feelings, no reactions, no remorse and no emotions. He would prey on his victims just like a beast. The linking of the word 'beast' with Mr. Stewart's name threw away any soft feeling that the audience might have had towards him unintentionally (due to any factor like his age, his social status, etc.), and framed him as a criminal unworthy of any sympathy.

However, the media is not the only one to be blamed, he reason that they were successful in framing him as an animal is primarily due to the fact that his actions were there to back the claims of the media. He was imprisoned for a term of 21 years in ...