We depend on media. We watch news, we read articles, and we believe everything that has been reported. Yes, there have been cases of fake news, but otherwise, media does not generally lie. However, there are times when the media exaggerate or distort the truth to possibly try to change the way we think.

People do not generally doubt the media, especially on matters as serious as crimes and politics. In an interview with Dr. Christian Perrin, a criminal psychologist, a question of how the media portrays ex-convicts came up in a discussion, and he was intrigued by the question.

“I guess the media makes you feel afraid,” he states. “If you can make people feel afraid, and constantly in a state of fear, then you can catalyze, you can manipulate people using it… The media wants us to envision these individuals [offenders] as pure evil, monsters, because then, the population will be more likely to vote for more punitive measures.”

“The media wants us to believe that we’re always at risk, because again, if we’re always at risk, then we’re all manipulable, and more agreeable to whatever the politician suggests. So the media has a huge influence…”

“People have adopted these views that the media constantly portrays. So the basic answer: as the consequences of the media, people have very harsh perception of offenders.”

Dr. Perrin believes that the media is presenting ex-criminals worse than they actually are. He believes that the media is trying to instill fear in the population so that we will be bent to their wills and believe what they believe.

If how the media portray ex-cons is truly biased, Dr. Perrin has given us the reason.

There is another group of people that the media is not exactly treating kindly: refugees.

Media tells us that refugees are horrible: they are here to take your jobs, steal your money, commit crimes, lower your living standards, but is that really true?

Joy Hougan, a former UN worker, was once a refugee. She was born in South Sudan, and war forced her to leave her home country. After moving multiple times to refugee camps, her family finally found a home in the United States in 1999. Joy stated that “Life in the US was not simple”.

“We were the only different looking people there and it was difficult. People were not really friendly in school or in our neighborhood.”

At a young age of fourteen, Joy was judged and prejudiced against because of her skin color. Looking back to when she was young, Joy concluded that:

“When you have a lot less than people around you then unfortunately, people tend to not treat you well. But just, I’ll say, just read more and try to find out the real story; do not just go off of what you hear on the news and taking the time to find out the real facts. For yourself.”

This inspired our question of why and how does the media portray refugees.

“It’s just mainly to instill fear in people; it’s like… really… that’s how they’re able to keep their job, right?”

“But if people really really, like, zoom in and look at the problem, and instead try asking ‘how can we solve this?’ by talking to those who are affected by this the most, I feel that that is how problems like this get easily solved. It’s just… the fear keeps people from getting to know the truth.”

Does that not sound oddly familiar? Joy’s opinion of the media’s portrayal of refugees is almost identical to Dr. Perrin’s opinion on portrayal of ex-criminals.

Media is not exactly trustworthy. Truth hides in layers and layers of rumors, opinions, lies; it’s complicated. Media gives us the truth, some way or another, and that is something we cannot perceive in the comforts of our home. But how true is it? Prejudice can lead to fabrication of the truth, and we cannot trust everything and anything we see, read, or hear. The media can be biased. It is not that the media is always biased, no, but that the media can be biased. The irony is that this is part of media, too.

Media is composed of many different people. Perhaps  some of us work for secret organizations or governments and are trying to change your values and beliefs. Some of us just genuinely would like to inform the population of what is happening in the world. Some of us are angry and biased, writing hate articles that consist of lies or distorted truth. But no, remember, media does not have control over you. No, you have your own mind and your own opinions and your own voice; we do not, we cannot dictate your actions.

Therefore, the next time you read an article or watch a news story, think about what they- what we say. We might not always be right and we might not always be wrong. Dig deeper and zoom in- research more and seek the truth. Do not believe everything we say. Maybe ex-criminals are not that bad and refugees are not here to take your jobs. Maybe they just want to… you know, be treated like normal human beings.

Like Oscar Wilde once said, “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”