The document discusses how news media has shaped societal perceptions of social justice and altered the legal system. It describes how media frames crimes in narrative form as entertainment which creates expectations for punishment, even without convictions. This infotainment model reflects and potentially shapes public opinion in high-profile cases. The document argues this dominant news framing risks mixing justice with entertainment at the expense of nuanced reporting.

1. News Media and Social Justice
A presentation by Ryan Kolb

2. Introduction
• News media has reshaped society’s collective
perception and expectations of social justice,
as well as altered the workings of our legal
system itself.

3. Narrative Model in News Media
• Media represents an individual crime in the form
of a story, dubbed these current news practices
as “infotainment”
• “Public narratives about crime in the news media
operate on a distinctly emotional level, weaving
powerful messages about not only the nature
and extent of crime, but also how audiences
ought to feel about crime” (Kohm, 2009).
• Beyond the “just the facts” approach into
something much more sensational, but
compelling.

4. News as Entertainment
• “The criminal-justice system and, particularly,
the police are becoming "mediatized"” (Doyle,
2006).
• Crime shows take storylines from news, news
media frames crimes after pop culture stories.
– Damages, Murder One, Law & Order
• Narrative model created common ground for
fiction, non-fiction, made transaction between
the two effortless.

5. True Crime as Pop Culture
• News media part of our legal justice system.
• "This whole case was driven by social media.
We really tapped into people's minds, and I
think it's a tool that should be used by defense
and prosecution." ()
• Defense changed strategy when public
opinion became unfavorable of Casey on
Facebook and twitter.

6. True Crime as Pop Culture Cont.
• Nancy Grace’s coverage made Anthony a
celebrity
• Crusade for social justice, or one-sided feud?
• “Her condemnation of the verdict brought
almost 3 million viewers to HLN, the largest
audience in the network's 29-year history”
(Maerz 2011).
• Grace reflecting the public opinion, or creating
it?

7. “The Devil is dancing tonight”

8. Narrative Model and Expectations
• Crime immediately is followed by expectation for
punishment.
• Social justice, or rather public punishment?:
“…the ‘re-emotionalization’ of law has impacted
the general public discourse surrounding crime
and the sanctions employed in the criminal
justice system” (Kohm, 2009 )
• Shame is a punishment in itself, and one that is
used regardless of the verdict in court.
– To Catch a Predator, High-Profile cases

9. Dominant Ideology of News as
Entertainment
• “Much recent media research has been based
upon a 'dominant ideology thesis'…power of
politically and economically dominant
groups…defines the parameters of debate, largely
determines the contours of the dominant
ideology” (Schlesinger, 1991).
• Infotainment a ideology based archetypes,
narrative tropes of conventional storytelling and
entertainment
• “Not guilty” verdicts anti-climactic, and therefore
unsatisfying.

10. Conclusion
• Important to never forget the implications to
mixing entertainment and true-life tragedy.
• Common news reporting practices are “The
exercise of power over the interpretation of
reality” (Jansen 2011). It’s our responsibility to
be constantly aware of the weight of that
power.

11. Works Cited
• Davey, Chris, and Karen Salaz. "Survey Looks at New Media and the Courts." Judicature 94.3 (2010):
137-8. Print.
• Walter Pacheco. "HOW CASEY ANTHONY DEFENSE USED SOCIAL MEDIA, BLOGS." South Florida Sun
- Sentinel: A.1. Print. 2011.
• Doyle, Aaron. "How Not to Think about Crime in the Media." Canadian Journal of Criminology &
Criminal Justice 48.6 (2006): 867-85. Print.
• Kohm, Steven A. "Naming, Shaming and Criminal Justice: Mass-Mediated Humiliation as
Entertainment and Punishment." Crime, Media, Culture 5.2 (2009): 188-205. Print.
• Melissa Maerz. "Nancy Grace: Ranting for Ratings." Entertainment Weekly.1164 (2011): 1. Print.
• Jansen, Sue Curry, Jefferson Pooley, and Lora Taub-Pervizpour. Media and Social Justice. 1st ed. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print.
• Schlesinger, Philip, Howard Tumber, and Graham Murdock. "The Media Politics of Crime and
Criminal Justice." British Journal of Sociology 42.3 (1991): 397-420. Print.
• Grace, Nancy. "The Devil is Dancing Tonight." Commentary. 5 July. 2011. YouTube. 11 April 2012.