Photograph Source:
Pexels.com, pixabay
After serving the public in Toronto for 31 years, Tom Lynch is now at Durham College as the head of Campus Safety and security.
While he talked to the first-year journalism students, he used his background in policing to explain the relationship the media and police share.
The most interesting things I took away from the discussion were how journalists and media actually work together. But, they can also work against each other.
In cases where there is oath vs. oath or similar fact, the media could actually ruin an entire case. If the victims or witnesses read about each other’s accounts.
When thinking about it now, I realize how easy the media can contaminate cases, while before I didn’t realize it was possible.
Another thing I found interesting was what Lynch called the beneficial relationship between the media and police.
This includes stimulating the wires and surveillance, which means if the media releases something that makes those who are accused of committing the crime think the police are onto them.
They may end up calling the other suspects or try to get rid of evidence. This means the media may help the police in assisting arrest by stimulating the accused.
Something that was thought provoking was when he pointed out that the media is never asking the police to answer questions at the end of a court case.
This raised questions for me.
Questions like, “what can we do to improve this?“and,”why don’t we show more interest?”
I believe the media chasing the aftermath of a story is important and would be in public interest. Maybe not in the smaller petty thefts, but the critical cases, where people want answers.