CSI and Reality TV Effects Media Has Essay

CSI and Reality TV effects

Media has been used fro quite a long time to influence the perspective of the public. This was a major tool that was employed during the cold war to influence the perspective of nations towards the west with the view that those that inclined to the western countries enjoyed a relatively higher sense of freedom.

It is still a large debate whether the CSI and such like programs as well as the reality shows do influence the way the police conduct their daily official duties. William Nadeau Esq (2010) notes that, a significant number of police officers do watch such shows when they are off duty and in their spare time. He says that it thrills them to see a criminal being caught and even beaten up in these reality shows. This is just about all that the police and other law enforcing agents gain from such shows.

On the other hand, there are criminals who are keen to watch such shows. This allows them to get into these characters that they desire to be. Despite the fact that most of the criminals on these series get arrested and can't beat the law and the system, watching these series helps the criminals know the little mistakes and loop holes that can get them caught by the police or investigators. In such shows, when a criminal who is almost impossible to catch is apprehended, it gives them the very technical thing that they should avoid in order to evade the last mistake that made the criminal get arrested.

As for the general viewers across the world, these shows have trained them not to trust the police.This is in light of the shows that portray policemen as the bad guys. Such shows have turned them away from openly trusting the police officers with the view that the system is corrupt. Some have even made the public not to trust the court system as they portray some judges who openly manipulates the evidence, denies the evidence or even rig the evidence to suit their person in court.

However, the most significant question is how far do these shows influence the work of the officers in real life and is the work of the police as it is viewed on TV. Veronica Stinson et.al (2007) indicates that, there is little evidence to show that the police officers duties are influenced by such shows. This is a manipulation of the media and a persistent question that has emerged every so often in the media whether these shows do or otherwise influence the work of the police. They even branded it the CSI effect, to mean that the TV shows do influence even the jurors to believe that they have the forensics expertise. In such a case, the media argues, the jurors heighten their expectations of the evidence presented and in most cases the evidence fail to meet their heightened expectations hence dismissing the case, yet they had been influenced by the CSI effect.

Veronica goes further to indicate that there is little empirical evidence that the officers are actually influenced by the CSI effect and that no….....