The manner in which news about sexual offenses is reported by the media affects public opinion and perception of “sex offenders”. Registrants seldom receive good press and it seems too often that “as the media goes, so goes the law.”
While re-offense rates for registrants are on the decline compared to other types of offenses, news media ignores and fails to report these facts. Positive facts about registrants just don’t make for eye-catching headlines, they don’t create the hype and moral panic that media relies on to sustain its self. As long as there’s news about “sex offenders” that keeps the public on high alert, fearful that predators of children lurk behind every tree and doorway, then media is doing its job, providing entertainment.
Unfortunately for registrants, the real facts about the registry and the side effects for those labeled by it, just aren’t all that entertaining to the public.
When it comes to sexual offenses, the media constructs stories that elicit public sympathy for those they deem victims and inflame the public against those perceived as offenders. The more sensational the story, the further outside of social norms, the more graphic the details, the more newsworthy the story is. Lurid stories create moral panic and the public reacts by reaching for pitchforks and torches. Legislators are bombarded with constituent calls for tougher sex offender laws which leads to extreme political reactionism and bills passed based on nothing more than myths, stigmas and stereo-types.
All this before the accused even has their day in court.
All too often news articles interchangeably use terms like “sex offender”, child molester, predator, registrant and pedophile. Upon hearing those terms, subliminally, readers use their own imagination, their own frames of reference in calling to mind images of monsters, bogeymen and stranger-dangers. Media keeps communities fearful regardless of whether or not there’s anything to fear.
The media’s role in stigmatizing those accused of sex offenses has led the public to demand ever increasing laws, registries, community notification systems, school and playground boundaries and travel and housing restrictions. It has influenced where registrants can find employment and who they can live or socialize with. The media’s representation of who and what a “sex offender” is influences public opinion and that public includes law enforcement, judges, P.O.’s, “sex offender” treatment professionals and state & government representatives. Everyone holding power over registrants is subject to influence by the media. And if the media only portrays registrants in a negative light, that’s the only way the public views registrants.
The media feeds the notion that registrants are untreatable. How often have they written about successful rehabilitation? They’ve written about the Second Chance Act, and giving felons a “hand-up” in reintegrating into society, but registrants are more often than not, left out of that equation, labeled as unredeemable, not rehabilitatable. This has never been more evident than in recent weeks when chemical castration laws and laws prohibiting registrant’s from residing with their own children have been at the forefront of the news. Where were the stories of registrants that have been successful?
It seems that when it comes to “sex offenders” and the media, a lot of it is, dare I say it, Fake News.
Well said! If anyone has email addresses of their local politicians on-hand, I recommend to copy and paste the text into an email addressed to them and providing the link as well.
Online media thrives on clicks. Chanell3000, a local newsorg, basic turned MissCl— into clickbait. Her name was mentioned more times than her murdered dead parents in a headline and story body. I’m sure there is more to come on her. Her NOW INFAMOUS THE TO MEDIA, perp in in state lock-up, likely in Waupon WI.
It’s the same kinda of cases that spark lawmakers into action. The two parties are desperate to present themselves as effectively addressing the issue, when in FACT they are helpless.
Databases can not predict a future unless it is utilized to deny opportunity via affirmative restraint. It is the same on the immigration \ border fiasco – each willfully inept. Feds were meant to be limited away from the day to day, with focus on an Army, borders sovereignty, and money printing. The founders could not have imagined the database nor it’s potential misuse to maintain unconstitutional entrenchment via the centralization of powers.
It all about rate!! And fear makes for the best rate Remember (Y2K) How people fear computers would shut down the world.Well it the same for sex offenders. The fear that my child could be molested at any second of the day/night. And yes it could happen. BUT the same coin can not land on both sides. Meaning is that your child won’t be taken by a stranger and molested. 99% of all cases it’s family or friends. But that 1% is what make the fear. But things are changing a little to make parents out to be the bad guys For letting harm come to there child. In my opinion all parents should be held accountable. Dont have something or someone you can’t protect 24/7 that just show you can’t handle responsible parenting. So when you call the cops to fix your lack of doing your job to protect your child who was molested or raped you are the piece of shit But you turn the tables to make you look like the great parent But you know in your heart.YOU Failed!!! But let put all the blame on the guy who did the sex offence. So you can just feel nothing of your fault
What you say is true, However; as you say the media will go with public opinion. Look at all the groups that were at one time stigmatized, gays, blacks, trans genders, undocumented immigrants, now all of those groups are regaled in the media. At one time they could be jailed for various reasons, now if you dare say anything against them you will be vilified in the media. Look at Buttigieg, his strongest asset as a candidate is that he is gay 😉 So this can turn. The media cares not for the damage or good it does, it only cares about ratings and profits. All we need is a few good stories and a few of our people to get noticed for the good they do, a few noteworthy articles and this can rapidly turn. There have already been political candidates among our ranks with little scorn about them, so it is changing. It is just these darn politicians are worse than the media. They fan the flames of fear about us and then promise to rid society of us with random laws all for the hope of votes. I say they are worse then the media.
One step for man kind ! Woohoo !
Hate to be the devil’s advocate, but here goes…
Simply put, the media is not interested in facts. They will misinterpret some details and overlook others for no other reason than to create a more compelling (read: shocking) story, often resulting in a distortion of the truth. The best examples I can think of are Casey Anthony and George Martin. I don’t know what actually happened in either case, but the fact that both were acquitted indicates that the facts found in court were substantially different than those that were trumpeted in media coverage.
When the media runs a registrant success story, it’s only an effort to raise outrage against the registrant and call for action to close whatever “loophole” allowed that registrant to prosper, such as the volunteer firefighter that was duly elected chief and supported by the mayor (forgot where that was). Accordingly, I don’t think registrant success and feel good stories (like those on the NARSOL home page) are the way to go. They might be okay for us, but they’re not likely to even reach (let alone sway) the general public.
Rather, I would argue the best approach to the mainstream press would be to bombard them with stories about the hardships endured by friends and family members (children in particular), as well as challenging the premises of their stories and their insinuations. Comments on internet articles are helpful, but ramp it up. Write to reporters and editors when their facts are clearly wrong; provide links to counter their claims.
The media is just as interested in controversy as blood. Provide controversy and we may get one minute of pro for the two hours of con they continually cram down people’s throats.