Violent news often receives disportionate media coverage, leading to unnecessary public fear and potentially encouraging criminal behaviour. Therefore, there is a proposal that the government should impose a complete ban on crime news. While reporting crime related news can raise awareness of people in some situations, I believe that this type of news usually distorts reality and also affect children.
Admittedly, covering negative news, such as crime news could increase awareness of individuals. When there is a murder and the murderer is at large, news reported in newspapers or on TV frequently encourages people to take precautions, inform others or even help the police to identify the criminal. In this sense, media coverage of crimes, however violent they may be, may prompt indivduals to take measures to combat such offences.
However, constant exposure to such news might make people fearful of their surroundings. If crime news were reported on a daily basis, people would be frightened of their lives. This can bring about reality distortion, where people think that they are surrounded by criminals. This, in turn, makes people be afraid of their neighbours and thereby reduce societal coherence among public.
Furthermore, presenting violent offences impacts negatively on children’s behaviour. They may consider it as a typical way of behaving and become more crime prone. In many Western countries, for instance, crime news gets a huge amount of attention, thus in such countries, criminal activities are quite common and usual among young people.
In conclusion, although news pertaining to crime can make people aware of taking steps in certain situations, I largely disagree with the idea that such news should be presented in media outlets, as it could harm societal bonds and influence children’s behaviour.