Making Headlines, Changing Perceptions
C.W. Post Professor Co-Writes Book Examining the Media’s Influence on Crime

Brookville, N.Y. -- What makes a crime newsworthy? The severity? The timing? The celebrity factor? What impact does the news and entertainment media have on how the public perceives a crime? When reporting on a crime, is the media ultimately looking to tell the truth or to sell the news?

These are just some of the issues raised by Roslyn Muraskin, Ph.D, professor of criminal justice at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, and freelance reporter Shelly Feuer Domash in their book, “Crime and the Media: Headlines vs. Reality,” (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007).

“When a citizen is accused of committing a crime, the decision to report it appears to depend on how newsworthy the story is,” writes Muraskin, who is also the executive director of the C.W. Post College of Management’s Alumni Chapter and the director of the Long Island Women's Institute. “We have been conditioned to receive the news as reported and to believe that their version is the way it actually happened. Yet we live in a world where an individual is supposed to be presumed innocent until found guilty, but apparently not by the media.”

Dr. Muraskin has written numerous other books on crime and justice including, “It’s A Crime: Women and Justice” (Prentice Hall, 2007) and “Key Correctional Issues” (Prentice Hall, 2005).  She is the editor of the Women’s Series for Prentice Hall and of “Criminal Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and Society,” a refereed journal published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. She serves on the Board of many journals and publications, including the editorial board of the Encyclopedia of Criminology. Her co-author, Shelly Feuer Domash is a freelance reporter for The New York Times, Police Magazine, and many other national publications. 

For more information visit www.prenhall.com.

Posted: August 25, 2006