Popular media's role in perpetuating violence and fear in society

¶ … Role of Media in Violence and Society

In a society that is supposed to uphold and respect law and order, one must be puzzled by the amount of bloodshed and horror that one sees in popular media: whether it is in movies like Saw or television shows like CSI: Special Victims Unit or in news media reporting of gruesome tragedies such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting or the terrorist attacks in New York, London, Boston or Paris. Judging by popular media, the developed world is awash in blood and violence. Yet if one looks out one's front door, he sees a normal, law-abiding community (even if he fears what is lurking around the corner or below the surface of strangers). How then do such media presentations affect the civilized world? This paper will show that popular media today helps to perpetuate cycles of violence, fear, paranoia and obsession by sensationalizing narratives, appealing to passions rather than to voices of reason, and hawking violence to a consumerist culture.

Sensationalized narratives are not wanting in popular media and can be used to shape public opinion. In England and Finland, for example, popular media were used to produce two very different pictures of violent acts committed by individuals in society. In England, the news media hyped and sensationalized the crime, turning the murderer into a "monster," while in Finland news media took a more measure and responsible approach to a murder and used a voice of calm discernment, reason and empathy. In England, the public responded by recycling the images and scorn that the media heaped upon the murderer while in Finland the public showed less anger and a more empathetic attitude toward all involved. If the aim of any moral and law abiding society is to promote peace and order, why would one such as England go out of its way to facilitate a vengeful and blood-thirsty culture of violence and frenzy by whipping up the public with sensationalized tales of "monsters" who murder rather taking the Finnish approach and moderately reporting on crimes with a more reserved and respectful tone and outlook? The answer is that media is big business and nothing sells like sex and violence -- and the English (as well as the Americans) are well aware of how to sell news (Berrington, Honkatukia).

The appeal to emotions rather than to reason is also evident in the media's perpetuation of cycles of violence, fear and paranoia. For instance, the constant Islamophobia that is pushed on network news shows every time a terror attack occurs is a direct appeal to emotion rather than to reason. Reason would lead one to "follow the money," in terms of asking how such terrorists are able to fund such expansive operations, or how they receive their training, weapons, and transportation? Answers to these questions would lead some discerning citizens to question the role of their own governments in the facilitating of extremists for the purpose of capitalizing on the chaos they create. But most popular media do not put forward such rational exposition. Instead, they market murder because it fosters an obsession in the audience -- as the market of "murderabilia" shows in Mason's study of the relationship between mass media and pop culture's fascination with serial killers, "collectibles," and so-called murder porn (Mason 158). The emotional appeal is also manifested in the way the media will distort a series of crimes, as in the case of England's Yorkshire Ripper, in order to make it seem as though there is a strong link between the violence and sex. In this case, popular media drove a narrative suggesting that the Ripper sought out and killed prostitutes when the reality was that only one of his victims was a prostitute. Nonetheless, the narrative provoked an emotional response in the public and the sex-violence angle drove readers and viewers to return to the media outlets for more and more, like bees returning to the honey hive. The media exploited a Puritanical hatred in the public and used it as bait to bring an audience of consumers to the media's table, where a myth (not news) was created about a serial killing who went around "punishing" prostitutes: it was not an accurate or responsible method of reporting news but rather a gimmick (Kinnell 95).

This leads to the final point -- the popular media panders to the consumerist culture in order use "violence" as a means of selling advertising: by exploiting a fundamental social tension within Western society, media creates a viewership that is voyeuristic in nature -- much like the ancient days in Rome when the citizens would gather in the Coliseum to see death matches. The viewership is required on the media's end for them to be able to sell advertising to companies, which in turn need a consuming public to buy their goods, products and service. The more sensational, irrational, obsession-inducing, violent and sexual the content, the more likely viewers are to be "hooked" once they let down any barriers or restrictions between their sense of decorum, propriety and respectability and the popular media. As Jarvis notes, "killing" has huge entertainment market share in popular culture, from shows like Game of Thrones to serial dramas like Bones and NCIS (Jarvis 326). Essentially, consumer culture that cannot ever have "enough" only craves more and more sensation (including blood and violence depictions) which are then more and more graphically depicted in order to satisfy demand.