Disadvantages Public Opinion/Media - model answer

• The Public and the Media in the UK can play a large part in influencing the way the Law is reformed. There are therefore many disadvantages to public opinion/the media contributing to law reform.
• Strong Governments can Ignore the Media

  Even though the media have been successful with some campaigners, there are occasions when a strong Government has ignored strong media pressure to change the law. In 2016 the Daily Mail ran a campaign to reduce the Foreign Aid Budget. However the Government at the time had promised to keep the Foreign Aid budget.
• Reacting Too Quickly Can Result in Knee-Jerk Laws

  Also even when the media do manage to get public opinion on their side and get law changed, this can often lead to poor 'knee-jerk'' legislation. An example was the passing of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. A number of newspapers ran a campaign demanding the Government change the law. The new law led to problems as it didn't define a dangerous dog by breed but by type (which is broader) this led to cases such as R v Knightsbridge which got national attention for dogs which were 'put down' despite not being dangerous.
• May not Give Accurate Representation to the Public

  Media outlets can be biased in favour of a particular political party. Especially because some media outlets such as BBC are owned by rich individuals who may have a particular political affiliation. This means that they will always portray that government in a good light even if this is not necessarily the truth. The media does not represent the whole of society, they may only be voicing the opinions of people who read their newspapers for example and each different type of media or newspaper has a different audience. So for example opinion polls in the telegraph which is a more upper class newspaper will be different to opinion polls in the Mirror. This therefore means that the government may be influenced to pass laws that do not necessarily sit well with the whole of society.
• Media can Exaggerate Issues

  Can cause a moral panic. If the government reacts to this they may pass laws that don't need to be passed or haven't been considered properly which may lead to bad law being made. Media can encourage poor behaviour in society as it stirs up emotion in people. For example, when the news of the world published the names of pedophiles this resulted in people getting attacked and houses being vandalised which is never a good thing for society.