Commercial Law: Media Influence on Justice - The Ferguson Case Study

This case study examines the media's involvement in the Ferguson case, specifically focusing on the shooting of Michael Brown and the subsequent legal proceedings. It delves into the theoretical analysis of the crime event, the extent of media coverage, and the impact of that coverage on public perception and the pursuit of justice. The study scrutinizes various media sources, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, highlighting their reporting angles and potential biases. It concludes that while the media played a significant role in disseminating information, it may have fallen short in addressing the underlying issues of racial discrimination and systemic bias, ultimately affecting the public's understanding and the case's outcome. Desklib provides a platform to access more such case studies and assignments for academic assistance.

Crime in Media
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Contents
Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................1
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Description of the case.....................................................................................................................3
Theoretical Analysis of the Crime Event.........................................................................................3
Media Involvement..........................................................................................................................4
Impact of Media...............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Abstract
In the present world, crimes are increasing fastly. In order to report such issues and
crimes, the media is there at all times. The role of media in criminology is being very important
as people are way much dependent on media sources. Even small news spread worldwide in a
few seconds. In the presented report, the discussion will be made on one of the crime events in
which media was involved as a source of information. The report will also focus the facts of the
case and impact of media involvement to the decision of the case.
Introduction
Police have a duty to reduce the crime and work in the best interest of the public.
However, in the long period, it has been seen and reviewed that police is not treating the African
Americans well. The issues and cases where police treat the black people in an inferior manner
in comparison to white people are nothing new in the area of crime now. On every next day, one
can see such incidents happening around. In addition to public, media plays a very vital role in
reporting of such issues. Transpiring of events and opinion of the public in such incidents are the
lead focus of media these days. The incidents are also significant to be reported and reviewed as
the same brings an issue of racism. Recently, in the year 2014, a case consisted similar issue has
been reported, in which the media played a great role in the coverage of the whole issue from the
investigation to the final disbursement. The case is well known as Ferguson case/ Michael
Brown case.

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Description of the case
The issue is the subjective case has started as on 9 August 2014. A person named
Michael Brown was walking in the streets of Ferguson with his friend Dorian Johnson. Michael
was an unarmed black man who was instructed to not to walk in the middle road by a police
officer named Darren Wilson. As soon as Wilson instructed Michael, he realized that Michael
was a suspect of robbery who stole cigarillos from a convenience store nearby. Wilson stopped
Michael with the intention to arrest him and therefore Michael started running. Both of the men
got involved in physical altercation with each other. Thereafter Wilson, being the police officer
opened fire and made some shots. Michael turned around and then Wilson fired some more shots
and therefore Michael died (Nytimes.com, 2015). In the investigation hold, later on, it was
reported that Michael had six shots and none of them was from behind. Michael found died at a
distance of 150 feet from the vehicle of Wilson. In the investigation held by the justice
department, Wilson proved an innocent person (Langer & Sklansky, 2017).
According to physical evidence, Michael was trying to grab the gun of Wilson. The
Grand Jury has decided to not to indict Wilson for the shooting of Michael. In addition to this,
the federal government also established it is a separate investigation and at last in the decision
held that no civil rights charges were needed to be pressed against Wilson but the finding of
systematic racial bias in the police department of Ferguson was required (Siegel,& Worrall,
2016).
Theoretical Analysis of the Crime Event
The lead issue involved in the case was an unjustified and discriminated manner of work
at the end of the police. In the decision of the case, the jury had many choices and the same could

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hold Wilson liable for the murder of Michael. The allegation of a second-degree charge was
theoretically possible but was not a realistic option (Harris & Lind, 2014). In the decision,
judges argued that Wilson was negligent while shooting Michael. 9 out of 12 judges were agreed
on the fact that there is no reason to held Wilson liable and he killed Michael in order to fulfill
his duty and not out of any feeling of racism. While making a theoretical analysis of the case,
this is to be stated that two circumstances are there in which a police officer can shoot a person.
One is to protect his/her life or a life of an innocent person and another one is to prevent a
suspected person from escaping. The Ferguson Police Department stated that Michael was a
suspected person in a case of robbery at a local store. In the other argument, a grand jury decided
that Wilson was entitled and even required to fire a shot on Michael as he (Michael) was proving
a danger for the life of Wilson. At the end of Wilson, it was a powerful case of self-defense
(Independent.co.uk, 2018)
The public raised an issue of discrimination by Police as Michael had no criminal record.
He was a black person of 18 years and was unarmed at the time of his death. According to many
of the live witnesses, Michael surrendered himself by showing both of his hands, yet Wilson
fired a shot to him. The case became a national controversy as it contained the issues of race,
police violence, and justice. Protestors escalated the decision of the grand jury and become very
disagree on the same (Lopez, 2016).
Media Involvement
Media has spread its root very widely in the few recent years. Whether it is about a social
event or a world problem, people rely upon media news. Media is playing a very crucial and
irreplaceable role in the victim framing. It is a factor that covers the cases and let the world know

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about them in detail. According to the different targeted audience, media collects and publish the
news and data accordingly.
In the subjective case, media was involved throughout the case. Many of the print, as
well as electronic media reports, have covered and reported this case. Firstly, to discuss the wall
street journal that is very lead print media source. It is a very well established media source that
often provides true data related to a case. On the subjective case also, between a period starts
from 10 August 2014 to 20 November 2014, wall street journal published a number of articles
On the other side, different media source named The New York Times also placed many articles
on it is online search engine included the keyword such as “Michael Brown”. Some other prints
and digital media sources such as St. Louis Post Dispatch and The Huffington Post were also
involved in the coverage of the issue (Wyatt, 2015).
In the different news and articles published by these media sources, focuses have been
made on different terms. For instance, in the majority of the articles published by The wall street
journal, the focus was centered to the age of the victim. The term African American and black
have been used for Michael Brown. It has attracted the focus of people towards the race of
Brown. The articles of the wall street journal provided detailed information about the whole case.
As per the article of The wall street Journal, there were no gunshots at the back of the deceased’s
body.
The article published by The New York Times stated that many witnesses have stated
different facts about the physical fight of Wilson and Michael. Various media sources made a
huge coverage on the case and make themselves involved in the whole proceedings from the

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investigation to disposition. An article released by The Huffington Post stated that police has
made an allegation on deceased that he assaulted Wilson.
It is proved from the above-mentioned discussion, that media has played a very
significant role in the coverage of the whole issue of the discussed case.
Impact of Media
Although American media has covered the whole issue, yet to say that the same failed to
bring the actual issue in the light. Most of the media resources have only stated the facts and did
not provide alternative solutions. Most of them have not even used the term and issue of racism
in their reports. As per Race Forward's report, a quarter of the thousand articles demanded or
suggested the solution based on race discrimination. According to Apollon, the reason behind
this was the working style of media sources. Most of them were focused on restating the reports
of police and courts and therefore did not include the true issue. This would not be wrong to state
that media could do better in this case. The Grand Jury found Wilson innocent. The approach
used by media had systemically absent content. The focus was made on the issue of racism at an
individual level when it was required to make on a social level. Media had huge powers on the
case but the same has not reported the issue in a correct manner, although the same was involved
throughout the case and provide every bit of facts to the public.
Conclusion

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In today’s world, the media plays a very huge and significant role. The same can affect
the decision of any case. In the studied case also, the issue had been covered by many of the
media channels and newspapers but no one has covered the alternative decision that grand jury
could take in order to provide justice to black people. This is to conclude that involvement of
media, in this case, brought no effective result and provided knowledge to people about what has
happened instead what should be
References

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Harris, J.D. & Lind, D. (2014). Why Darren Wilson wasn't charged for killing Michael Brown.
Retrieved from: https://www.vox.com/2014/11/24/7175967/darren-wilson-charges-
michael-brown-ferguson
Independent.co.uk. (2018). Ferguson shooting: Four years after Michael Brown's death, how
have things changed? Retrieved from:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/michael-brown-ferguson-shooting-
missouri-death-shot-darren-wilson-trump-obama-police-a8481456.html
Langer, M. & Sklansky,D., A. (2017). Prosecutors and Democracy: A Cross-National Study.
UK: Cambridge University Press.
Lopez, G. (2016). The 2014 Ferguson protests over the Michael Brown shooting, explained.
Retrieved from:
https://www.vox.com/cards/mike-brown-protests-ferguson-missouri/justice-department-
investigation-ferguson-police-racism
Nytimes.com. (2015). What Happened in Ferguson? Retrieved from:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-
siege-after-police-shooting.html
Siegel, L., J., & Worrall, J., L. (2016). Introduction to Criminal Justice. USA: Cengage
Learning.
Wyatt, B. (2015). Media Coverage and the Ferguson Unrest. Retrieved from:
http://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2414&context=etd