2. P7 & M4 Current affairs in the UK that affect the Public Services and citizens of society are the student demonstrations, the increase of fuel prices and the cutbacks of the Public Services. These all have an affect on society and the affect it has depends on the way in which the media portrays the Public Services and citizens of society.
3. Student Demonstrations The student demonstrations began due to the rise off tuition fees made by the government that soon lead to rioting and protests from the students. These demonstrations effected the Public Services greatly as the majority of Police Officers were on the streets trying to prevent the rioting from getting out of hand and too dangerous, while the Ambulance Service and Paramedics were on standby ready for any casualties if the situation escalated. The demonstrations showed both students as well as the Police in a bad perspective. A couple of ways in which the media did this was by only showing footage of the students being violent and also some footage of the Police acting in an aggressive manner towards the students which resulted in a lack of support for the Police by the citizens of the UK.
4. Student Demonstrations The media has cast a bad eye over the Police service due to broadcasting the minority of Police officers who were taking an aggressive style to the situation. However the media have also given the student generation a bad name due to releasing only the majority which were vandalising the streets of London and showing aggression towards the Police. For those minority who were expressing their displeasure in the rise of tuition fee’s by a harmless protest, they are now stereotyped against by the citizens that have been brain washed by the media. The media is in control of how the news is released, therefore they can manipulate the citizens of the country who are at home being told what the media want the people of the county to hear.
5. Fuel Prices Increase The recent fuel price increase sparked anger amongst motorists across the UK. A protest consisting of 1,000 vehicles travelling to the M56 and onto the M6 where the convoy extended by a further 500. The Police were informed of the protest and were there to patrol the protest to keep order. A statement to the press was made saying that the Police had turned back tractors and issued tickets to farmers. They also had dogs ready to release into the protesters if an outbreak occurred. This incident also gave a negative perspective of the Police Service as the media only published stories that portrayed the Police in a bad way and this affects citizens as they will not trust the Police if they act in an aggressive or ill mannered behaviour towards those they have the duty to serve.
6. Fuel Prices Increase When the media portrays the Police in a negative manner it effects how overall the Police is seen by the citizens perspective. For example, in 1981 the Police were seen in the eyes of the citizens as institutionally racist, if the aggression outbreaks are to carry on and lack of discipline occurs regularly the Police will have a bad view by the people of the country. For the increase of fuel costs, people are going to be upset and angry because its change that they don’t want so they are going to rebel against the situation until they get what they want. But this does not give the media the right to just portray the Police or the protesters in a negative manner. The cost to get Police out to the situation would of cost thousands to control the protest. This was an extra cost the Government didn’t want as the cutbacks are about to get the country out of debt.
7. Public Services Cutbacks It is estimated that over the next 5 years, 350,000 workers from the public sector will lose their jobs as warned by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Due to these cuts (especially of the Police), the level of crime has increased and it has been reported that some criminal activities will be “screened out” by the authorities. It has been estimated that as many as one in three crimes will be ‘binned‘ as there is little chance of them ever being solved. Even crimes such as burglary, sexual offences, criminal damage and theft from cars will be left and not investigated. Cutbacks have had an effect within the Royal Air Force (RAF) and this has resulted in them having to decommission multiple aircrafts such as: the Harrier, Nimrod and the sentinel. This is expected to last for the following 5 years and this will have a great impact on the Public Services.
8. Public Services Cutbacks Also on the 14th of February it was reported that 100 student pilots where made redundant due to the public services cutbacks by the government. The media made the RAF look bad as they got into detail as soon pilots had a matter weeks to completion of their training. However it was later released that the RAF were redirecting the redundant pilots into of other trades. To start off with the media were portraying the RAF in a bad way to the citizens but the story changed and a positive outcome was released.
9. P8 The media reports on incidents and operations that the Public Services are a part of and they can portray the services how they want citizens of society to see them. They can do this by editing film footage and using clips in a specific order to show citizens if they think the Public Services are doing the right thing or to present them doing something in retaliation to another incident when the two incidents were completely unrelated.
10. How The Media Reports Members of the media are not only members of the public; they can influence the way the Metropolitan Police Service is portrayed. It is important that we build good relationships with them, even when the circumstances are difficult. They have a duty to report many of those things that we have to deal with - crime, demonstrations, accidents, major events and incidents. Reference – Metropolitan Police Guidelines. The media have the duty to carry out anything necessary for them to do their work. For example, if a scene has been cordoned, the Police will have to give the media a good vantage point for them to collect the information the need. In some cases, if the Public Services do miss treat the media, the information gathered can be edited so certain parts of film footage and images can be shown is a certain sequence to portray the services as a negative source of assistance.
45. How They Support Citizens A mountain rescue mission would require the Non-Statutory agency Mountain Rescue and the Statutory agency, the Royal Air Force. In this situation, the Mountain Rescue team have the necessary skills to search and coordinate aircraft that have to find the stranded person. The RAF would be required to use their search and rescue aircrafts to locate the person with the assistance of Mountain Rescue coordinating them. Each service alone provides a high quality of service to citizens; however, when they need to work together the service becomes even better and the combined skills allow the situation to be resumed as normal in a short space of time. To resolve this situation, both agencies must be aware of what is happening so the can assess and risk assess the situation and prepare the appropriate equipment for the task ahead. The pilot from the RAF will then take off with some Mountain Rescue crew to assist when they arrive, while this is happening, a coordinator will be communicating with the pilot to direct them to the location of the stranded person. Once located, the pilot or signaller at the scene will assess the person and respond with the necessary information to finalise the mission.
46. Evaluation Of Media Reports The media has the power to influence the views of society on certain subjects. They can choose to make the Public Services and citizens look positive or negative depending on the situation that they have witnessed. The media can manipulate its audience by showing specific scenes and images of their footage in a given sequence that may be completely unrelated to what was happening at the time. The media’s role is to provide knowledge of what is happening in today’s society and around the world and this job comes with a great level of responsibility as they can influence the opinions of everyone in society.
47. Negative Effects As shown in the picture below, the media have place a photo of violent students during the demonstrations rather than showing photos of the students are not causing any damage or harm to anyone or anything. This also creates a stereo typical perspective of all students to other members of society. Also in the picture on the right, the Police have been shown as being aggressive towards student protesters in order to keep control of the situation and try to resume normality. The media present information and images of what will capture its audience’s attention and that it will change their views of people of their society.
48. PositiveEffects The media does also show a positive outlook onto some incidents. For example, the two images below show both the Police and students doing nothing other than doing their job and standing for what they believe. The Police are using their kettling technique to maintain control over the crowds and this image shows the advantage of this as no destruction is being caused and the protesters are just shouting their views. From the perspective of the students in the picture on the right, they are not the stereo typical protesters that the media have portrayed in the past.
49. Conclusion The media has a major effect on society as they can change the views of many and can manipulate them into believing anything they want. This has a severe effect on the Public Services as they provide a service to everyone in society and if they have been portrayed in a negative way, then people will not want to put their trust into them. Once the student demonstrations had finished, from what the media had said and shown to the public, the Public Services would have views that all students are violent and rebellious which makes more prone to being watched by the Police and it will make people of society more weary and they may not feel safe around them.
