Media's Impact on Child Abuse Awareness

The media plays a significant role in creating awareness on child abuse. The way the media structures its reports on the vice creates awareness to the general public on the extent to which it is engrained in society. Significantly, the media has in the past been used to voice concerns over child welfare. Although there are other negative aspects associated with the press, it is also commended on its positive impact. The different articles on child abuse and neglect are used to appeal to the community and can also at times offer solutions to these issues.

Severally, the topic of child abuse and neglect has featured in the Los Angeles Times. Some of these articles include an article by Garret Therolf talking about the torture and killing of an eight-year-old. Apparently, social workers had the opportunity to stop the process, but due to their negligence, the child was tortured to death. The article helps the reader realize the extent of child abuse in the society.

The author uses value-laden words like felony, vulnerable, troubling, among others.

The reporter is focused on portraying the negative impact that the workers’ negligence brought about and that they should be held accountable. Nevertheless, the author does not appeal to the reader on what to do in such a situation. As noted by Karen Kaplan in her article in the LA Times, “1 in 8 US children will become the victim of serious abuse or neglect”. This article helps create awareness of the extent of child maltreatment in the US.

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With this knowledge, social workers, the community, and other concerned persons get motivated to react to the situation. According to Kaplan (2014), abuse and neglect are also linked to other severe mental and physical health issues. Notably, the reporter only highlights the problem and does not offer solutions to the reader. However, the reading can spark interest and concern in the subject matter.

Joseph Serna through the LA Times highlighted the issue of child abuse through an article about a woman who had been arrested for a child’s death. The article highlight that the passing of the child could have been stopped since the mother had earlier on been investigated on claims of neglecting the child. The author uses words such as felony, abuse, and horrifying to detail the seriousness of the subject matter, the writer’s attitude towards the mother and her boyfriend is negative. Nevertheless, he does not offer solutions to such situations the article creates awareness on how people neglect and abuse children. In another article by Richard Winton and Hailey Branson-Potts (2016), child abuse is discussed once more. Their article is about a mother whose child was found dead the article uses terms like severely, underweight, and festering the article appeals to the reader to be wary of their surrounding and neighbors.

Apparently, it is the boy’s father who contacted the police, Notably, this is an example of how close the situation can be in life. Nevertheless, we are encouraged to react like the boy’s father. The paper does not state the reporter’s solutions categorically rather serves as an example an lesson to child abusers. In separate rulings by the Supreme Court, it was declared that the victim of child abuse should be paid damages in full but not by a single defendant. The author uses different words to detail the seriousness of the issue at hand. The article portrays the author‘s opinion which is expressed through what he focuses on. Notably, the author concentrates on the rulings by the court to have many people pay the victims their damages. On the other hand, the legal fraternity was at it again when a Kansas bill was presented to define what legal spanking is, According to La Ganga, M. L. (2014), the bill might create room for spanking in educational institutions as well as at home. The article details what the current Kansas law says about the same. It also describes people‘s opinion and experiences on the same.

Apparently, many people believe that spanking is important and should not be abolished the article offers no way forward but just for the reader to await the passing of the bill. Green and Gomez (2013), details eight common-sense reforms that are needed for the department of children and family services (DCFS). According to Green and Gomez (2013), there have been several cases of child abuse and neglect that led to the scrutiny of the DCFS. As indicated in the article, certain things need to be done in the department to help improve things the article details the recommendations to this department. Notably, the authors seemingly abhor the state of the department which leads to its malfunction. Finally, we have therolf (2014), who wrote an article on the move by supervisors make recommendations on child protection.

As indicated in the article, the directors were pushing for the increase of their resources to help them deal with the issue of child abuse. To help them in their effort, they released a report on the status of the department the article appeals to the reader on the reality of the department and also the way forward. Notably, the article indicates that the best way forward is to heed to the supervisor‘s recommendations, the media greatly influences the perception and reaction of the general public. As such, in the fight against child abuse and neglect, the media has come in handy In this context, the articles discussed herein are useful examples of how the media has created awareness on the status of the society in child abuse and neglect matters. The media has apparently been sued to pressurize the society to act in good faith towheads the wellbeing of the children in the community.