Media Snatching :: Kidnapping Baby Snatching Essays

Media Snatching Baby snatchings and kidnappings have gotten popular attention in the past decades. Through media exploitation, safety awareness and fear inside of parents have heightened. No longer has an isolated case of a baby snatching become the scare of the day-it is the scare for a child’s first years. Are baby snatching and kidnapping a reality to everyone? Should everyone with a child fear that child’s abduction, or is it only a made up reality within the media? The fear of a baby or young child being abducted is natural and understandable. It is otherwise unfortunate that the media is able to use its power to purport a crime wave on a seemingly low-rate crime. Through extensive media coverage, parents and the world can perceive any place as a possible risk for child abductors. This point is expressed by Furedi when he states, â€Å"The intense level of media attention paid to the rare instances of baby-snatching has contributed to widespread demands for hospital security.† Frank Furedi is not the only person to comment on media coverage spreading angst. One article talks about Guatemala and its people’s fears of baby snatching and then the baby’s body parts being sold in the United States. Even after years of rumors of this type of believed behavior had subsided, a new wave of fear had returned to hit a group of people. â€Å"†¦Rumors about body part sales tap into ‘deep reservoirs of fear and anxietyâ€℠¢ among parents and are widely believed ‘despite total lack of evidence’.† Obviously, this statement is a clear example of how easily the public’s fears are created and manipulated by the media. Once an article or a telecast of some story is released, a public’s perception is changed, no matter if the intent of the media is to caution or to merely inform. This demonstrates the media’s power and how easily the public is a victim whether or not it is the media’s intention. Newspapers, television, magazine articles, and movies are all forms of communication that have contributed to spreading the baby snatching alarm. Not all times are these types of media correct with informing the public viewer. Sometimes the media can be so personable that it is made to seem like it could be happening everywhere and right under the noses of parents. This is an absurd but subtle accusation made by media coverage. For example, the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems put out an article on a way of thwarting baby snatchings.