Response to "Blood Brothers"

            After reading the blog at http://bricrim.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/blood-brothers/  and too viewing the program Blood Brothers appearing on Channel Nine on May 8 I have to agree with this perspective.  I too believe in Jeffrey Gilham’s guilt but similarly I am sceptical about the legitimacy of the information supporting my opinion. Blood Brothers was an extremely one-sided account of the murders that occurred that night in the Gilham household and therefore viewers are easily persuaded to side with the crowns case that Jeffrey is in fact guilty of the murder of all three members of his family. Given evidence from Surette (2007) and Marsh and Melville (2009) that the media is the source of up to seventy-five per cent of our crime knowledge and we place our trust in the media to give us truthful information. The perspective taken by the media in telling these apparent true crime stories is extremely important regarding whether or not we believe in the guilt or innocent of the accused offender in question. In Blood Brothers Jeffrey is clearly portrayed as guilty and the acting out of his character in the film (as Bri mentioned in her blog) made it almost impossible to like him. Whilst in other programs such as the first series of Underbelly where the series is shot partially from the criminals point of view and we almost come to like the characters. For example, the opening scene with the two characters Jason Moran and Alphonse Gangitano is amusing, even after Alphonse guns down an innocent man. In any other situation I would have been angered by such a senseless crime, but in the context of this media I found myself siding with the ‘bad guys’, hoping they wouldn’t get caught. If Underbelly had of been shot from a law abiding perspective would my opinion have been different? Had Blood Brothers been scripted to show Jeffrey’s side of the story would be believe in his innocence? Most likely.

The media outlines only one side to the story unlike the proper legal system of criminal courts where both cases are heard. If the media effectively showed both sides to every story the wider community as a whole would be able to form more educated and correct opinions on the guilt and innocence of individuals.

References

Blood Brothers, 2011, telemovie, Nine Network

Marsh, I. and Melville, G. (2009). Crime, Justice and the Media 1st ed. London: Routledge.

Surette, R (2007) Media, Crime and Criminal Justice: Images, Realities and Policies, Thomson, USA

Underbelly, 2008, television mini-series, Nine Network

Policing and the media

            The relationship between policing and the media has increased in recent decades but with different intentions from the two sides. The police have utilised the media in increasing the appeal for information as well as providing information to the community regarding current crime and methods of prevention, whereas the media on the other hand exploit policing of crime purely for entertainment purposes (Reiner and Newburn, 2003).

            Police officers and policing work is portrayed in many different lights through various types of media today, including news, television series (fiction and non-fiction), movies and books. This varies from for example the ‘corrupt’ cops in Underbelly: the Golden Mile to the ‘dumb’ cops in the Policy Academy films all the way through to the portrayal of the ‘real’ cop in current reality television shows such as The Force: Behind the Line and RBT. The ways in which police officers are portrayed in the media plays a great role in influencing peoples’ thoughts and opinions surrounding the police force and often the media is uses this to its advantage. For example, following television series supposedly based on true events such as Underbelly: the Golden Mile led to greater questioning of corruption in the police force. Through these programs we see the police as the ‘bad guys’ and the actual criminals as somewhat good through the use of clever cinematic techniques. Seeing the crime from the criminal’s perspective somehow makes us believe that it is ok. From the other end of the spectrum, we have shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation that allow us to view crime through the police officers’ perspectives, having an opposite effect.  Then we have reality TV; an attempt at demonstrating the ‘reality’ of police work. I believe that shows like The Force: Behind the Line and RBT do try to change our attitudes toward police officers. For example on The Force: Behind the Line it often shows young adults with characteristics resembling ourselves and peers in training for the police force which leads us to believe that policing is almost ‘cool’ in a way.

            As a previous dedicated viewer of CSI I believed I wanted to enter the field of forensic science as an adult, however the career is not as ‘glamorous’ and fun as it seems on crime TV – an industry heavily reliant on all that is gory, dangerous and fatal. The reality of this particular form of policing is in no way apparent in current media except for the occasional book entailing a biography of a real life forensic investigator – of which are rarely promoted, I believe in attempt to ‘cover up’ real accounts of the true nature of the policing industry. A book by Esther McKay entitled Crime Scene is one of my favourites as it is the tale of her short-lived career in the forensic investigation unit at Campbelltown before she was discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder – a disorder more common in the police force than is let on. McKay states on page 1:

            “day after day my life was consumed with killings, distress and gruesome sights, each one adding another piece to an ever-growing mosaic that seemed to be made up of bloodied disposable gloves, plastic bags and human waste”

            She goes on to explain scenes she witnessed which have haunted her forever such as the body from a suicide liquefied in the car, bodies so decomposed limbs fall off when they are moved and not to mention the smells or thousands of blowflies.

            But we don’t see this stuff on TV or in movies, they make it look like a dead body will be clean, fragrance-free and easy on the eye, but it is highly misleading, especially for those dreaming of a career in the police force. If you haven’t already read Crime Scene I highly recommend you do so! Especially if you like me have considered a career in forensic policing...

References

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, 2000 – present, television series, CBS, the United States of        America

McKay, E. (2006) Crime Scene, Sydney: Penguin.

Policy Academy, 1984 - 1994, series of motion pictures, Warner Bros.

Reiner, R. and Newburn, T. (2003) Handbook of Policing: Policing and the Media,             Cullompton: Willan

RBT, February 2011 – present, television series, Nine Network, Sydney

The Force, 2006 – present, television series, Channel Seven, Perth

Underbelly: the Golden Mile, 2010, television mini-series, Nine Network, Sydney

My crime media habits...

I used to be a regular consumer of crime television however in recent times since studying Criminology at university my interest has decreased. This is particularly evident in my current lack of interest in fictional forms of crime media, preferring to regularly read or view crime news and occasionally watch crime reality TV shows. Whether or not this decrease in media consumption is related to lack of spare time or clashing of genre preferences with my housemates and other friends I don’t know, but I do know that rarely I will sit down and watch a crime show alone on TV.

Previously I really enjoyed the fictional crime shows CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Cold Case, they were you could say the ‘inspiration’ behind my career choice. I enjoyed the way I was involved in the guessing game as to who committed the crime - being a viewer meant I was part of the investigation team. However since taking up criminology, which is nothing like I thought it would be as my thoughts were based on many of the mainstream sources of media, I have realised that such shows are not realistic and therefore my interest in non-fiction media was further stimulated. While I enjoyed watching reality crime shows such as Forensic Investigators prior to this, I enjoy them a lot more now. While they still lack a lot of the realistic aspects of the jobs they portray, they are fascinating to watch, for example, the science behind forensic investigations is pretty cool.

During high school I would religiously watch CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Cold Case routinely, but nowadays I would never plan to watch any crime show at the same time each week. I hardly ever find myself sitting in front of the TV alone, but if I were flicking through the channels the crime shows (fictional or non-fictional) would definitely be first choice. Above all though, I really enjoy and most regularly consume crime news and current affairs. I would say up to ten times per day I read the Sydney Morning Herald online and while I had never really noticed until now, I usually only read the crime stories. Similarly I really enjoy watching crime reports on programs such as A Current Affair or 60 Minutes. These shows are the one type of media I will ‘plan’ to watch – if I see a good crime story advertised I am immediately sucked in and want to watch the rest. Just to finish off and give you an idea of the sort of thing that interests me I recommend watching this story that appeared about six months ago now about the James Bulger killers entitled ‘Beyond Redemption’ (see link http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=1079602). See if that sparks your interest as it does mine...

References

60 Minutes, 1979 – present, television series, Channel Nine, Australia

A Current Affair, 1988 – present, television series, Channel Nine, Australia

Cold Case, 2003 – 2010, television series, CBS, the United States of America

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, 2000 – present, television series, CBS, the United States of America

Forensic Investigators, 2004 – 2006, Channel Seven, Australia

The Sydney Morning Herald Online, 2011 <http://smh.com.au>

Portrayal of the Criminal Courts in Films and Television

When I was about 13 years old I watched the television show The Practice with my mum, and at that point I decided I wanted to be a barrister. Not one of those nasty defence barristers, but a sophisticated and knowledgeable prosecutor with a solid case to put away all the bad people in the world. The way in which the cases were carried out on the show was inspiring! After further exposure to other sources of media (mainly movies) consisting of dramatic courtroom scenes my interest further grew. However it has only been recently that I came to a realisation after viewing cases in the Local and Supreme courts: the daily life of a barrister is not all it is cracked up to be in the media. Often proceedings were dull, boring and extremely slow, especially in one case for example (that of Mark Standen, a former police officer charged on conspiracy to import and provide drugs) where one piece of evidence for example was a forty-five minute phone conversation about who knows what as it was difficult to hear. The barristers spoke in a dull voice with little expression, the jury seemed bored and the judge rarely looked up or spoke. There was no ‘order, order!’ being cried out from the bench, and no witty questioning by the prosecution in attempt to foil the defence’s case. This was contrary to my previous beliefs of the dramatic courtroom, likened by Geoffrey Robertson in his book The Justice Game to a theatre with the various ‘actors’ all holding their own separate and routine roles.

Take a look at the courtroom scenes in the films Legally Blonde and The Exorcism of Emily Rose for example. While the producers of such media may believe they are giving us a realistic insight into the realities of court proceedings, they are very wrong. It is questionable as to whether they have entered a real courtroom themselves? Between the almost ‘fun’, ridiculous atmosphere in Legally Blonde to the intense, fast-paced and never boring court in the Exorcism of Emily Rose it is easy to gather misconceptions about the criminal courts. Not to mention the hilarity in the courtroom in Liar Liar, enticing us to believe there are constantly (despite oaths) intricate lies told by witnesses and the barristers themselves.

Look at the following two clips from Legally Blonde and Liar Liar:

The apparent reflections of real courtrooms in these films are not that great, rarely would a defence barrister go before the court without a case, yet in these two films the cases are won through simply questioning a witness and building on the case from there. For example: Fletcher in Liar Liar asks a question about the age of his own witness, uncovering evidence in the witness box that previously had been overlooked, and therefore won the case. In reality, wouldn’t the defence have known this information prior to this and put it forward to the court in a less dramatic fashion? I would say so as it happens in the criminal courts of New South Wales.

References 

Legally Blonde, 2001, motion picture, Mark Platt productions, distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United States   

Liar Liar, 1997, motion picture, Imagine Entertainment, distributed by Universal Pictures

Robertson, G. (1998) The Justice Game, London: Chatto Publications

The Practice 1997-2004, television series, American Broadcasting Company, United States

The Exorcism of Emily Rose, 2005, motion picture, Lakeshore Entertainment, distributed by Screen Gems

The Keli Lane Saga

I'm sure many of you have also been following the well-publicised Keli Lane case too and like me, formed an opinion of Keli and her family based on their media exposure. On the 15th of April 2011 I witnessed the sentencing of Keli at the Supreme court which completely changed my opinion after experiencing first-hand the true nature of the media.

(Banks, 2011)

This image frequently appears during a simple google search and has been regularly used by the media to emphasise Keli’s guilt regarding the murder of her baby girl Tegan and to compliment their biased stories, attempting to sway the opinion of the reader. These photographs are favoured over those demonstrating expressions of sadness or worry. I didn’t see this infamous ‘Mona Lisa smile’ on Keli in the courtroom, instead expressions of anxiety, sadness and worry appeared complimented by tears.

Here and outside the court when the cameras aren’t rolling, behind the scenes of the news lies the truth about how the media treat the subjects of their stories. Today, the purpose of the media is less about presenting the factors and more about making money through generating public interest in these ‘newsworthy’ stories. The newsworthiness of the Lane case is high in accordance to Jewke’s news values (2004) as it concerns violence, children and most of all individuality.

The coverage of the sentence of Keli was phenomenal, from the strange ‘Live Tweeting’ of Lisa Davies from the courtroom as can be seen in the following link:

http://twitter.com/#!/@lisazdavies

to the crowd of media waiting outside the Supreme Court. I likened these reporters to a pack of wild animals; as soon as Keli’s parents, partner and legal team left the courthouse a frenzy of fighting occurred in order to get the best shot possible. The competing media representatives pushed and shoved, showing absolutely no respect for Ms. Lane’s family (or for eachother), all for a few brief seconds of news coverage and hope for a comment from one of them. Here is an example from Nine News (2011)


 http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=5cca20c8-a982-41ec-9e3e-6f03aab5f084

In this video you can see the desperation of the media to get a good shot, snapping the camera at the windows of the police truck and the reporters literally pushing each other out of the way to get to Lane’s parents (in particular, the extremely pushy reporter in the red jacket with way too much fake tan), her mother saying things like “please don’t nudge me like that” and “don’t touch me”.

A second video from Negus (2011) from TEN news shows the group waiting outside the Supreme Court, and the added feature of ‘dramatic’ music adds a bit of extra edge don’t you think? How unnecessary...

While I watch the news reports on television at night I never really appreciate what it must be like for those being followed by the media but after my first-hand experience, I really feel for them. Keli’s family should not receive such treatment, they are not the criminals here, and the emotion they must be feeling at the prospect of having a child imprisoned for the murder of their grandchild must be hard enough without being thrown into the spotlight.

References

Banks, A. (2011) 'Keli Lane sentenced for killing babe Tegan', 15 April, News.com.au

<http://www.news.com.au/national/keli-lane-sentenced-for-killing-baby-tegan/story-e6frfkvr-1226039512869>

Davies, L. (2011) Twitter Account <http://twitter.com/#!/@lisazdavies>

Jewkes,Y. (2004) Media and Crime 1^st ed. London: Sage Publications.

Negus, G. (2011) 'Keli Lane Sentenced', 15 April, Ten News Online - YouTube

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcNpFYQo9q8>

NineMSN News (2011) 'Lane sentenced to a maximum 18 years' jail', 15 April, NineMSN News Online, http://news.ninemsn.com.au/video.aspx?videoid=5cca20c8-a982-41ec-9e3e-6f03aab5f084

The NSW State Election

Crim 2027 Blog 1: State Election

With the NSW state election this Saturday there is a substantial amount of media surrounding the event. From various print media to radio to television news broadcasts, new articles are printed daily. I usually read articles online on the Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Telegraph, Ninemsn and occasionally the ABC website where there are various methods of presenting similar stories about proposed crime policy from the different  political parties.

The real purpose of news articles found on these sites is to be ‘newsworthy’: attract viewers and gain further popularity according to Jewkes (2004). The following three of Jewkes’ principles of newsworthiness are frequently found in these articles:

1.       Proximity

2.       Simplification

3.       Predictability

Firstly, the articles are sectioned usually under the National or State section of the news website which means they are geographically relevant to their audience. Secondly, the stories are most often simplified in order to prevent confusion by the community, eliminating most if not all political jargon. Lastly, due to the predictability of the story news crews are able to deploy staff to the area well in advance to ensure adequate coverage of the story.

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) and ABC news seem to present more formal and less-opinionated stories as factual information is presented to the public, which is the real purpose of the news after all, right? Ninemsn and The Daily Telegraph seem to be more biased and almost ‘gossipy’ in a sense with their reports - the “Opinion” section on the Tele’s website is a perfect example! One story on the Daily Telegraph’s website by an anonymous journalist is entitled “Kristina’s already in post-poll mode”. The writer makes  comments such as “ordinarily, Australian political parties wait until after they've lost an election before they begin a period of self-destruction” and “Keneally might not be sufficiently diplomatic for the task” which I think demonstrate a negative attitude toward Keneally and I also think impacts the peoples opinion too. In contrast a story by Heath Aston (2011) on SMH.com consists of factual information about both parties. For example, he quotes coalition leader Barry O’Connell’s plans to “recruit 400 new police officers, put 100 extra highway patrol officers on the state's roads and buy a counter-terrorism helicopter”. I think this information is a lot more effective as we are told the facts minus any snide, opinionated comments from the reporters.

Despite this though, as a regular consumer of all of the above sources of news, I am influenced by the biased articles regardless of the fact I know I shouldn’t be. With all the negativity surrounding Kristina Keneally and the Labor government in the press, I can’t help but to feel I too shouldn’t vote for Labor. Just goes to show how influential the media really can be...

References

Aston, H. (2011) ‘O’Farrell aims to arrest crime’, 20 March, Sydney Morning Herald Online

<http://www.smh.com.au/national/state-election-2011/ofarrell-aims-to-arrest-crime-              20110319-1c1cy.html>

Jewkes,Y. (2004) Media and Crime 1^st ed. London: Sage Publications.

‘Kristina’s already in post-poll mode’, 19 March 2011, Sydney Morning Herald Online

 <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/kristinas-already-in-post-poll-mode/story-e6frezz0-1226024235950>