According to chapter one “what is Journalism for?” of the book “The Elements of Journalism” by Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenstiel, the primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing. This chapter also addressed the different types of citizens that the news have; 1) The involved public, which are those who have a personal opinion in the issue and a story understanding. 2) The Interest public: they have no direct role in the issue but they are affected and respond with some first-hand knowledge. Finally we have the uninterested public; these citizens pay little attention to an issue but will join in only after the contours of the diverse have been established. Furthermore, when a social event is narrated with such great characters and facts, the public start to raise their voices. All citizens become involved and interested despite which category of the Interlocking Theory they belong to. This is the case of Troy Davis, an African American man convicted and executed of the murder of police officer Mark McPhail 22 years ago. There have been many stories about executions under the death penalty in the United States, but few of the stories have grabbed the attention of the public like Mr. Davis’s case.
The article of The New York Times dated September 16, 2011 “Digital Age Drives Rally to Keep a Georgia Inmate From Execution” by Kim Severson, explains in details the impact of Mr. Davis’ story on the public. According to the author, many people didn’t know who Mr. Davis was until a well narrated story by the press caught the attention of millions of citizens. Mr. Davis had been scheduled for execution four times. This last time was different because millions of people from all over the world took a position on the issue and were in favor of Mr. Davis’ right to live, considering the fact that there was not enough physical evidence to convict him of this crime. Many people have compared this case with the Casey Anthony’s case, which in fact, was one of the most controversial criminal cases in America, because the public opinion got involved.
Unfortunately and despite all the protests asking for clemency for Troy Davis, he was executed as scheduled; on Wednesday September 21, 2011. This court decision left the public with many questions; was this a racial case?, what does “human rights” mean by the American Justice System?, Is there something call “justice” in this country?
The public had the power to influence many other citizens that were not really interested in the subject. In addition, the public opinion helped to introduce Mr. Davis’ story to the world. It also helped to convince citizens of the flawed American Justice System. However, the public opinion didn’t have the power to stop the execution of Troy Davis. Therefore, I ask myself, how much power the public opinion could have in order to change a nation?
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