Is the media showing too much knife-crime?
We all know recently knife-crime has been in the news a lot and especially in London and high populated cities. But is this a good idea?
In society nowadays, many people rely on news to get their dose of the daily happenings in the country and recently we have all been hit with the brute reality of these knife crimes. But this could influence people. By this I mean having knife-crime on national news all the time can be risky.
This may be due to the negative influence social media can have on people. With things on social media influencing people, the same can be said for things that happen on the news.
Let me know what you think?
Comments (18)
Well done for starting a great new discussion thread. I've given this star for curiosity.
What are some of the other consequences of the media focusing heavily on knife-crime?
Beverley St Nicholas Primary School 11 Jan 2019
I don’t agree because if someones seen it but the police haven’t the police can see it and if the FBI need to be there they can then go.
Beverley St Nicholas Primary School 11 Jan 2019
This has truly opened my eyes! You are totally correct about the risks of showing knife crime on national news. I truly admire your courage of writing a full post about it. It was an amazing risk and it payed off spectacularly!
Hi intellectual_apple,
Do you mean if someone were to use something like to alert people to what is going on at that moment? This is a good point to bring up. Does sharing information like this make us safer?
Hi ambitious_opportunity,
Do you agree with what is said in this post? Can you explain what 'opened your eyes' and how this might inform the way you think about the issue.
Birchwood C of E Primary School 11 Jan 2019
I see your meanings of media and knife crime. My idea is, sometimes they don't go together. It's meant to show what not to do but sometimes the opposite can occur. The media might be another reason why violent crime is increasing! I am sure you have inspired others to think because you have to me!
entertaining_strawberry
Beverley St Nicholas Primary School 11 Jan 2019 in reply to Tiff @ the BNC's comment
I think less knife crime should be shown on the news.
The Ruth Gorse Academy 13 Jan 2019
There is one way to prove that the media shows too much knife crime. It is really easy too. If you go on to 'The Discussion' then you will see that almost every post is centered around knife crime. When I first looked at the discussion page, I was shocked to see that the vast majority of the posts where about knife crime. I would like to see posts on other types of crime as knife crime is one of the many crimes that we, Burnet News Club, could talk about.
Notley Green Primary School B 13 Jan 2019
I personally think it is
it is because facebook is always showing others about what is happening and its showing people too much info about it if they want to know whats going on just look at the news
Faringdon Community College 14 Jan 2019
Thanks, allowing_huckleberry, your post really got me thinking about knife crime in the news an the problems with it but also why it might be an important thing to have featured in the news.
I think there is an argument for and against reporting on knife crime in the news.
It is good for it to be in the news because it makes people aware of the threat of knife crime and how it is something to be aware of. The articles in newspapers about knife crime do not paint the criminals in a positive light and shows how it affects others in such an awful way. By showing the harsh realities, it deters others to get involved in knife/violent crime or to even carry a knife, which is a positive thing for everyone as it means less people are armed with knives in public. Showing the realities is important as there, unfortunately seem to be a trend of kids carrying knives with the Guardian reporting that ‘Ministry of Justice figures showed there were 4,439 knife crimes where the perpetrator was aged from 10 to 17 in the year to September 2017, up from 3,811 the year before.’. I don’t exactly know why these kids carry knives whether it is peer pressure, that they think it is ‘cool’ or ‘grown up’ or they think it will give them protection but by reporting on knife crime and showing the harsh realities of it and the consequences of carrying knives for yourself and others will hopefully make people and youths think twice before carrying a knife with them. And the less people with knives, the less people who are seriously injured or killed from knife crime.
However, I think there are reasons that knife crime shouldn’t be reported in on the news too often. Firstly, I think that some people can be especially sensitive to stories of violence like this. Especially for children or teens, graphic stories of violent crime can terrify them and so have future negative affects like anxiety or just generally making them worried, scared or stressed. Everyone reacts to information differently, a story might terrify one person might only slightly unsettle, if worry at all, another so it is really difficult to decide what details to show because there is always someone who is going to be unsettled by a story.
The fact of the matter is, reporting on knife crime is important and necessary to show the realities and how important it is to not get involved in activities like it. Bringing awareness to knife crime is necessary but there is a balance between sharing the facts and going into gory, unnecessary detail which will just stress and worry a lot of people.
So what do I think?
I think that knife crime and other violent crime should still of course be reported on in the news but I think there should be a few rules. I think that coverage of violent, possibly triggering crime should have a better warning before it is reported so that young people or people sensitive to subjects like this don’t see it. I also think that reports should not go into gory, unnecessary detail when they don’t need to and carefully think about how graphic and possibly triggering the story could be to people. I also think that it is sometimes reported on too often. I get that it is becoming a more common occurrence and violent crime statistics are rising but sometimes it feels like most news is focused on violence, rather then focusing on all the positive, interesting and sometimes more relevant things they could be focusing on.
So in conclusion, I think that knife crime should be featured in the news to help raise awareness to the problem and deterring others to be armed with a knife or partake in violent crime but I think it should be reported on slightly less often, not have an unnecessary amount of gory details in it and should have better and more frequent warnings for it so people who are sensitive to subjects like it can choose to avoid the story.
Sources:
• https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/14/number-children-penalised-knife-possession-rises-16-england-wales
John Ruskin 15 Jan 2019 in reply to ambitious_opportunity's comment
I also think that less knife crime being shown on the news/ media would be better because people could get interested in gangs, but certainly, everyone will feel different.
Birchwood C of E Primary School 15 Jan 2019
In my opinion,I don't think that they want knife crime to end I think this because they want to show people what knife crime looks like
Morley Newlands Academy 16 Jan 2019
I agree because young children could see the news of knife crime on the television and not know that it is a bad thing so they might think that is what they want to do when they grow up because they are only young so they don't understand it isn't a good thing to do.
Birchwood C of E Primary School 16 Jan 2019
I disagree with you affable weaver because media; actually not showing enough knife crime I think this because more knife crime more money for the media
Bruche Primary School 17 Jan 2019 in reply to Tiff @ the BNC's comment
I agree 😛
Notley Green Primary School 18 Jan 2019
I agree because social media gives away to much information about knife crimes because buying knifes online is a dangerous stupid because there is no age limit
Beverley St Nicholas Primary School 18 Jan 2019 in reply to careful_apricot's comment
Good point
Beverley St Nicholas Primary School 18 Jan 2019
yes because it has happened in different countries and county’s like wales but about 20 years it didn’t happen as much then
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