Media is an easy target for criticism. Media has been blamed for violence, increased sexuality, drug abuse, materialism, and the list goes on. But it is rare when the media is celebrated for something it does right. Perhaps one of the biggest values of media is the role it plays in solving crimes.
The media saturated age we live in makes crimes harder to be successfully committed. The Amber Alert, named after a murdered 9 year old named Amber Hagerman, is a system where the media broadcasts kidnappings on various mediums. Since it's creation in 1998 there has been 389 successful recoveries of children. That is about 38 children a year.
In septemeber of 2008 a picture of a three year old girl released by the F.B.I whom believed she was in danger was given to the media to broadcast. The child had been on an elicit sex tape and the F.B.I believed she was in serious danger. Within days of news stations such as ABC releasing the picture to the public, the girl had been found. A family friend recognized the child on T.V as a friend's daughter- Madison. About a week later Chester Arthur Stiles was arrested after being identified by police, to whom he said "It's me, I'm tired of running".
More recently, following the shooting of University of North Carolina student body president, Eve Carson, the media released an ATM picture to the media of a "person of interest" using the slain student's debit card. After the broadcast of the picture the police had several tips implicating Demario James Atwater. They set up survelliance at Atwater's home and arrested him the next day. Police were also able to arrest a second person, Laurence Allen Lovette, in association with the crime as well. Later it was revealed the men had committed a second murder of a male student at Duke University. Their arrest may not have happened so quickly, or at all, without the media.
America's Most Wanted is a media program that has captured 995 criminals just by showing their pictures and telling the story of the accused. Even Oprah Winfrey has launched campaigns via her television show to catch sex offenders. Winfrey offered a $100,000 reward to catch offenders and caught 5 men on the run.
Not all media shows whose goal is to catch predators is celebrated, To Catch a Predator, a MSNBC program who uses fake underage decoys online to catch men soliciting children for sex has received criticism for its tactics. One Texas man who was about to be revealed as a predator by the show committed suicide when cops and the Dateline crew showed up outside his house he shot himself. Leading the show to be slapped with a 100 million dollar lawsuit (which is still in preceedings). Others critize the show for purusing men online, and talking very sexually, which some argue is a sort of entrapment.
Even with its critisms the media is undeniably a major tool for law enforcement. Although there are no solid statistics on the number of criminals caught through media identification, one can imagine the number is very high.
The media saturated age we live in makes crimes harder to be successfully committed. The Amber Alert, named after a murdered 9 year old named Amber Hagerman, is a system where the media broadcasts kidnappings on various mediums. Since it's creation in 1998 there has been 389 successful recoveries of children. That is about 38 children a year.
In septemeber of 2008 a picture of a three year old girl released by the F.B.I whom believed she was in danger was given to the media to broadcast. The child had been on an elicit sex tape and the F.B.I believed she was in serious danger. Within days of news stations such as ABC releasing the picture to the public, the girl had been found. A family friend recognized the child on T.V as a friend's daughter- Madison. About a week later Chester Arthur Stiles was arrested after being identified by police, to whom he said "It's me, I'm tired of running".
More recently, following the shooting of University of North Carolina student body president, Eve Carson, the media released an ATM picture to the media of a "person of interest" using the slain student's debit card. After the broadcast of the picture the police had several tips implicating Demario James Atwater. They set up survelliance at Atwater's home and arrested him the next day. Police were also able to arrest a second person, Laurence Allen Lovette, in association with the crime as well. Later it was revealed the men had committed a second murder of a male student at Duke University. Their arrest may not have happened so quickly, or at all, without the media.
America's Most Wanted is a media program that has captured 995 criminals just by showing their pictures and telling the story of the accused. Even Oprah Winfrey has launched campaigns via her television show to catch sex offenders. Winfrey offered a $100,000 reward to catch offenders and caught 5 men on the run.
Not all media shows whose goal is to catch predators is celebrated, To Catch a Predator, a MSNBC program who uses fake underage decoys online to catch men soliciting children for sex has received criticism for its tactics. One Texas man who was about to be revealed as a predator by the show committed suicide when cops and the Dateline crew showed up outside his house he shot himself. Leading the show to be slapped with a 100 million dollar lawsuit (which is still in preceedings). Others critize the show for purusing men online, and talking very sexually, which some argue is a sort of entrapment.
Even with its critisms the media is undeniably a major tool for law enforcement. Although there are no solid statistics on the number of criminals caught through media identification, one can imagine the number is very high.
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