Police Shootings Research Paper

Words: 1177
Pages: 5

A majority of people believe that the media is overemphasizing shootings by the police therefore making their jobs more dangerous. Media outlets can sometimes fan the flames in hostile situations involving police shootings in this country. The media can make a bad situation worse by not reporting all of the facts or by showing a skewed views of the actual events. One example of media bias is the fact that Michael Brown and another unarmed teenage male Dillon Taylor were shot by police two days apart yet only one of these names probably sounds familiar. The one obvious reason for the media bias in this particular situation is the race of the victims. Michael Brown was black and the officer who shot him was white. Dillon Taylor wasn’t black, …show more content…
Does police outreach to children improve police-community relations? I believe it does, if you can make an impression with the youngest members of a particular community you can create a ripple effect that spreads to the older generations as well as the future generations to come to change the negative perception that people have on the police. If young people log onto their social media accounts and see the negative attitude towards the police on television and the internet that only breeds a hostile relationship between young people and the …show more content…
24% of Americans think white police officers shooting innocent black people is a bigger problem in America today than blacks shooting each other. 62% of people believe African-Americans people shooting other African-American people is the bigger problem and another 14% of people are undecided. 61% of people believe that the media overhypes shootings where African-Americans are shot by white police officers, 28% polled disagree and another 11% are undecided. 63% of those polled say media coverage is making it more dangerous for police officers to do their jobs while 26% disagree and 11% are undecided. (54%) of Americans said last August that the media would have offered less coverage of the Michael Brown story in Ferguson if a black policeman had shot a white teenager. 66% of whites and 53% of other minority voters consider African-Americans shooting each other to be a bigger problem than white police officers shooting innocent African-American people. African-Americans are evenly divided on this same question. African-Americans are also less convinced than whites and other minorities that the media overhype incidents in which African-Americans are shot by white police officers. Whites and other minority voters are twice as likely as African-Americans to believe this media coverage is making it more dangerous for police officers to do their jobs. Race is a factor in