ABSTRACT
Opening a segment of Cops is a view of a room stocked with electronic equipment. Text at the bottom of the screen identifies the room as the Communications Center. Night Beat, Cops, Top Cops, American Detective, America’s Most Wanted, and the many other TV programs that follow the lurid “reality”-based formula are products of the media’s reliance on the entertainment value of the law enforcement establishment. The media portray violent urban crime as incomprehensible, existing in a world apart that no longer makes sense to the public it engages. The conditions of inner-city life became increasingly unbearable. As urban communities were faced with the flight of stable blue-collar jobs, federal funding for social services was cut dramatically. The national atmosphere created by the war on drugs and the climate of opinion promoted by the media have facilitated judicial inequalities that are beginning to be acknowledged.
