Not About A Woman
Overall, I feel we have seen a pattern of stories in the Illustrated Police News that focus on women. They do claim they wish to state the stories that often get overlooked by other news sources which could explain the trend. For this weeks blogpost, I wanted to dig a little deeper and focus on an article that is specifically about men.
On Saturday, December 21, 1889, the Illustrated Police News put out issue 1439. In this issue, there is an article that talks about a very infant form of police brutality. Now this is something we have seen a lot in the present so it was interesting to see how it played out in the past. The attacker in this case is actually a prisoner who had struck the constable in the back, as claimed by the police. He was then seized by a witness and later denied the charges. The prisoner had a different story. He claimed that the policeman actually hit him in the mouth. An eye-witness was questioned for further examination of the case and did agree with the prisoners story in his claim by stating "he saw constable turn around, catch the prisoner by the shoulder with one hand, and strike him in the mouth with the other" (IPN). There is a saying that there are six sides to every story. It is unclear as to who abused who. While the majority of sources in the article claim the prisoner was beaten by the police man, his story holds different.
The title "policeman"or "constable" holds power. There is authority in that title. They are supposed to be well-liked and respected members of society as well. This is still an issue and some-what of a stereotype we are dealing with today. When something is known for being good, society tries to deny it every being bad. I would say that over the past 5 years, we have seen a massive amount of news stories focusing on this content. Names such as Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown are some that headlined social media and printed news in the past few years.
In conclusion, I feel that the Illustrated Police News is shining light on another story that may have not been featured in other news outlets. If it was, the story of the policeman may have been told but not the story of the prisoner. Prisoners are looked down upon and often treated as lesser than anyone else. While this article does not bluntly say "I'm standing up for the prisoner," it does give their story attention which may not have happened anywhere else.
On Saturday, December 21, 1889, the Illustrated Police News put out issue 1439. In this issue, there is an article that talks about a very infant form of police brutality. Now this is something we have seen a lot in the present so it was interesting to see how it played out in the past. The attacker in this case is actually a prisoner who had struck the constable in the back, as claimed by the police. He was then seized by a witness and later denied the charges. The prisoner had a different story. He claimed that the policeman actually hit him in the mouth. An eye-witness was questioned for further examination of the case and did agree with the prisoners story in his claim by stating "he saw constable turn around, catch the prisoner by the shoulder with one hand, and strike him in the mouth with the other" (IPN). There is a saying that there are six sides to every story. It is unclear as to who abused who. While the majority of sources in the article claim the prisoner was beaten by the police man, his story holds different.
The title "policeman"or "constable" holds power. There is authority in that title. They are supposed to be well-liked and respected members of society as well. This is still an issue and some-what of a stereotype we are dealing with today. When something is known for being good, society tries to deny it every being bad. I would say that over the past 5 years, we have seen a massive amount of news stories focusing on this content. Names such as Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown are some that headlined social media and printed news in the past few years.
In conclusion, I feel that the Illustrated Police News is shining light on another story that may have not been featured in other news outlets. If it was, the story of the policeman may have been told but not the story of the prisoner. Prisoners are looked down upon and often treated as lesser than anyone else. While this article does not bluntly say "I'm standing up for the prisoner," it does give their story attention which may not have happened anywhere else.
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