Bali drug cases have been in the news for the last year a and a half and have earned different levels of media coverage and public support. Schapelle Corby had people irate that she was on trial, while the Bali Nine have some Australians calling or their heads. The question is, does the media shape public opinion, or does public opinion shape the media’s coverage?
People do things for either logical or emotional reasons, including the people on trial the judges and the media. Looking at all that the public, in turn react to that. Pretty Schapelle with her courtroom tears got people to act emotionally and do all kinds of silly things. Travel agents stopped booking holidays to Bali for heavens sake, where’s the logic in that?
Here’s one trend I see in these media events, ’snowballing’. Whether its Schapelle Corby, or cartoons, people with no direct attachment to the event, get caught up in it and push others to get involved. If the snowball starts out as a angry one, it will grow. If it starts out as a pity snowball, that will grow.
The media affects public opinion and public opinion affects the media, its 2-way street. There is not a lot of support for the Bali Nine, so the media doesn’t cover that story as much as it did Schapelle. Following on from that, the lack of supportive coverage means less people support the Bali Nine.
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It will be interesting once Chan and Sukumaran come closer to execution, then I think you’ll see more public sympathy become apparent especially if they have supporters who can “humanise” them as Nguyen Tuong Van was.
Pictures of greiving mothers, stoic brothers etc.
Or here’s one…maybe more people know for sure they are guilty.