Cathy Bullock & Jason Cubert: Domestic Violence in Newspapers in WA and Outside Source

In the article I learned that domestic violence isn't seen as a social problem when really it needs to be. The article is a content analysis on domestic violence fatality and how they are portrayed in newspapers.  The media has the power to bring awareness of domestic violence to our society but fail to do so.  The media always seems to conclude in their stories that the victim (usually the women) deserves what came to her because  she did something to provoke the man. One thing the journalist who write on domestic violence stories are mainly relying on the police as their reliable source and don't bother getting the information from the victim. They also, never go in depth about their story, they usually tell us, who, want, when, and where. They never tell us why it happened or what lead up to domestic violence which would be a key information the public should know I think. Also the news media always portrays domestic violence as the same story over and over again. They don't put enough effort when writing these stories like making each event unique instead of making them all sound the same.

Outside Source

I read a story on CNN about a Texas judge who was videotaped beating his cerebral palsy daughter with a belt.  His daughter is the one who put the camera and hide it because her dad beat her on occasion. I believe this story is newsworthy because the criminal is someone you are supposed to look up to and has high status. Also a young disabled women is involved.  I believe in spankings when a child does something bad but not to the extent to where the parent is cursing at the child and pulling down their pants lashing them with a belt bare skinned. What her father did was an abusive act of violence.  He obviously has anger issues and thinks he could get away with anything because of his occupation and high status in society. He works in family court and I think abused his power and should all be taken away. 

The Movie ENOUGH

I really enjoyed watching this movie because domestic violence is something that happens all over the world and I'm glad to see it get some recognition.  I loved how she ran away to get away from her abusive and controlling husband and at the end learns how to fight back so he knows she doesn't have to take his shit anymore. I think this movie is a great inspiration to women who live in a abusive life style. This movie can show you that you do have a way out and you don't have to put up with men's shit and you can learn to fight back. Obviously this movie isn't realistic because many women are too afraid to tell people or it's too late and the man ends up killer her. This movie portrays how the males dominate our society and it's hard for a women to escape and to be heard.

Meda Lind-Chesney: Media Misogyny

We know when women play a role in the media they are newsworthy to the public because it isn't normal to see a women breaking the law or killing someone so it fascinates us. It was interesting to read this article because I had no clue that women gangs are growing and I didn't know women were becoming more violent. I also found it interesting that women's gang stories were popular all over the news and on talk host shows like "Oprah" and "Larry King".  The article mentioned that women's violence raised but not dramatically because what was being accounted for were stuff like assaulting their husbands, school fights, girls hitting their moms and small fights on the streets.  The rise wasn't happening because women are becoming out of control and are committing really violent crimes because they weren't. I believe women are committing more violent crimes because they are becoming more independent and can now commit the same crimes as men. Also, the feminist movement plays a part in this.

Mark Schubb: LA Riots and Outside Source

I loved how he started off his article with a comic.  The comic shows how the media portrayed the riots. I know news media only play certain news stories that will get them better ratings for their show.  Of course it has to be about a underclass culture and how blacks are being portrayed as a violent group and how they create riots. But really 60% arrest for riot related violations were Latinos, not blacks like the media all over the world was claiming. News reporters claimed the people were nothing but "savages" gangbangers and thugs in the street making all these troubles. They never once tried to get the real story out to the public and insisted on showing lies and misleading information on how the African community were the bad guys, which in reality wasn't true. They never mentioned how this was all created because of racism in our society.  Racial inequalities were a big thing back then and still is today and to see how the news reporters deceived the riot stories for their personal gain for ratings and what not is disgusting and shows you, you can't always believe what you see or read from news companies.

Outside Source:


One news media that is getting a lot of attention right now is the killing on the Virginia Teach campus.  Two bodies were found dead, one a police officer and a young male. They have not found the shooter and they have no reliable leads yet. The leads they did receive from the public got them now where and are still gathering their information to find the shooter.  I believe this type of story is newsworthy because a police officer was involved and it was on a school campus and Virginia Tech is known for this type of shooting because something like this happened on campus a couple of years ago and this hits home and is pretty scary the whole public should know.

Carol Stabile: Criminalizing Black Culture

In the article she tells a story about a white couple who was supposedly attacked by a black man who shot a man in the stomach and shot his wife in the head.  The story got a lot of media coverage and never ever looked into the husbands back ground because he was white attacked by a black man in a black community. They sympathized with the white gentleman and never suspected him as the criminal.  Like she mentioned if he was black he would never get this kind of media coverage because this is expected from the black culture. Even though later on the truth came out that he was really the killer after he shot himself. This just shows you how media against the black culture always gets misrepresented and seem to care if they do. They are trying to portray that blacks are only victims in their own culture and could never be a victim in the white culture. I liked how she focused her article on high profiled crime media stories like the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson.  I believe that theses are examples on how news media can enforce certain privileges and powers on certain cultures, like on the blacks and whites.  What we see the most on the news is what we are thinking is mainly going on in our culture and if the news media is blaming the black women to have more force in a relationship and is the cause of a dysfunctional family structure. This is believed to cause their children to end up being violent and causing them to commit crimes and how this could only occur in a black culture/community.

Yvone Jewkes: "Crime and the Surveillance Culture"

In the article it mentions that we have experienced a rapid growth in the use of surveillance and it's like Big Brother watching us all the time and it doesn't even bother us because I think it's because we are so used to it. Some new technologies are created to track criminals or to prevent illegal acts but they should know that the criminals will always be 5 steps ahead of them. New technology also creates new loop holes for them to get around the system. I don't think there will ever be a way or stopping them from watching our every move. We are always being watched from our finger prints being taken, them watching our every move on the internet, they have cameras at every stop light, they can monitor our cell phones and land lines and our gps systems in our car.  Technology is just getting better year after year and won't ever go away. Jewkes makes a good point that surveillance at the end is a good thing. They are just trying to protect us and it reduces fear in our society.

Outside Source

reading about prison films reminded me of the show Prison Break. It was one of my favorite shows for awhile until it ended last year. In this show it showed corruption in this prison by the guards and warden. It also showed corruption with the nurses and doctors in the prisons. It's a show about how 2 brothers, one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an elaborate plan to help his brother escape prison by putting himself in prison with his brother. Inmates get rapped and inmates build friendship and trust with each other.