The Fourth Estate

Debate is rising about the release of the killers of James Bulger, the little lad who was led away from a shopping centre to be tortured and killed by two 11 year old boys,Robert Thomson and Jon Venables. The parole board gave permission for their early release and although Venables was rearrested and served another two years for another offence he is again due for release. 
The media and sections of the public still want what they view as justice and the pair are still vilified. 

My interest was raised because of a similar event in Denmark at about the same time. This time it was two
6 year old boys who killed a little girl. Instead of an uproar and a hang em at all costs frenzy, as it was here the Danes accepted the fact of their age and did not vilify the kids. Their sentence was commensurate with their needs.

It could be argued what about the victim what about the loss to the parents and so on and of course these arguments are equally valid. My interest though was in the way the general population responded and since the response was so different, why.
Of course we are very susceptible in this country to what our media say and the way they present a story. I am sure it is true in all countries, that many people buy the same paper and watch the same TV channels for their news and events. We are all therefore, prone to being influenced by the same people and rarely step outside the bubble to think and form our own opinions.
In Denmark story received a balanced report and more importantly the killing took place in a village where the people knew the victim and the perpetrators. They knew them as children and found it difficult to judge them as anything else. Thomson and Venables were older but importantly they came from a city background where no one really takes time to know anyone, other than family. If the media demonised them then they were demons.

A case study in the power of the Fourth Estate