The freddie Gray story in the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The freddie Gray story in the media - Essay Example umerous journalists failing to maintain objectivity in order to unearth the facts in the case as present the story objectively as the discussion below portrays. The media plays an integral role in the society. Key among the primary roles of the media is agenda setting which in turn leads to the formulation of opinions. The media influences public opinion and the media in the United States played a role in enhancing the wave of violence and riots in Baltimore following Freddie Grey’s story. Objectivity lacked in the coverage of the story with the media including the CNN following a wave of narratives that could sell. The media for example began by propagating the story showing videos of Mr. Grey’s arrest and alleged maltreatment. Showing the videos was not a mistake. However, the media failed to play its watchdog role by exercising caution. They carried out extensive analysis of numerous other cases of African Americans who have died while in police custody thus making Mr. Grey a growth to the statistics. Such biased yet widespread coverage of the story enhanced the spread of a particular narrative that shows that the predominantly white police service in the country continues to target African American minority. This contributed to the outbreak of the riots in Baltimore. None of the numerous journalists cared to investigate the background of the various suspects who have died in police custody. Some were hardcore criminals and the police had issues to suspect Grey. After contributing to the outbreak of the riots in the city, the media adopted yet another skeptic position in their coverage of the story. Fox News anchors for example claimed that the city was under blockade by â€Å"thugs†. CNN on the other hand even assigned an African American reporter to cover the story claiming that he was safer and could blend in the mayhem. The media once again showed a lack luster attitude with no media attempting to investigate the history of police brutality in