'Moral Panics' are not a new thing!

For all intents and purposes the ‘moral panic’ is nothing new. Throughout time there have been a number of panics over a variety of issues, ranging from crime and the activities of youth, to drugs and sexual freedom, each considered a threat to the moral fibre of society at that particular time- today is no exception (Furedi 1994: 1). As Furedi points out, ‘newspaper headlines continually warn of some new danger which threatens our health and happiness. Television programmes echo the theme with sensational accounts of crime and illustrations of the breakdown of family life’ (Furedi 1994: 1). Whereas in the past it may have been the ‘drug culture’ of the fifties and sixties, or the disruptive behaviour of the Mods and Rockers, today we face panics over ‘children who kill other children’, the threat to our health from outbreaks of BSE and E.coli food poisoning, teenagers gripped by a ‘new and threatening drug epidemic’- Ecstasy, and perhaps one of the more prominent panics at present- the ‘paedophile’. The issues to consider, it might then be suggested are: how does a panic occur and take hold; what are the indicators; and who is involved?

source ; aber.ac.uk

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Are modern gangs 'Folk Devils'?

A folk devil (German: Volksteufel) is a person or group of people who are portrayed in folklore or the media as outsiders and deviant, and who are blamed for crimes or other sorts of social problems. (compare scapegoat)
The pursuit of folk devils frequently intensifies into a mass movement that is called a moral panic. When a moral panic is in full swing, the folk devils are the subject of loosely organized but pervasive campaigns of hostility through gossip and the spreading of urban legends. The mass media sometimes gets in on the act, or attempts to create new folk devils to create controversies. Sometimes the campaign against the folk devil influences a nation's politics and legislation.
The concept of the folk devil was introduced by sociologist Stanley Cohen in 1972, in his study Folk Devils and Moral Panics, which analysed media controversies concerning Mods and Rockers in the United Kingdom of the 1950s. The basic pattern of agitations against folk devils can be seen in the history of witchhunts and similar manias of persecution; in the long history of anti-Semitism, which frequently targeted Jews with allegations of dark, murderous practices, such as blood libel; or the Roman persecution of Christians that blamed the military reverses suffered by the Roman Empire on the Christians' abandonment of paganism.
More recent folk devils have included the McCarthyite persecution of alleged Communists; Satanists and allegations of Satanic ritual abuse; blaming video games and violence, Goths, and other youth subcultures or musical genres for the Columbine massacre.

Source: Wikipedia

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Mods and Rockers

"Gangs of mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as folk devils. The rockers adopted a macho biker gang image, wearing clothes such as black leather jackets. The mods adopted a pose of scooter-driving sophistication, wearing suits and other cleancut outfits. By late 1966, the two subcultures had faded from public view and media attention turned to two new emerging youth subcultures - the hippies and the skinheads."

Source: Wikipedia

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Origins and use of the term: Moral Panic

"The term was coined by Stanley Cohen in 1972 to describe media coverage of Mods and Rockers in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. A factor in moral panic is the deviancy amplification spiral, the phenomenon defined by media critics as an increasing cycle of reporting on a category of antisocial behavior or other undesirable events.
While the term moral panic is relatively recent, many social scientists point to the Middletown studies, first conducted in 1925, as containing the first in-depth study of this phenomenon. In these studies, researchers found that community and religious leaders in an American town condemned then-new technology such as the radio and automobile for promoting immoral behavior. For example, a pastor interviewed in this study referred to the automobile as a "house of prostitution on wheels," and condemned this brand new invention for giving citizens a way of driving out of town when they should be attending church.
In Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order (1978), Stuart Hall and his colleagues studied the reaction to the importation into the U.K. of the heretofore American phenomenon of mugging. Employing Cohen's definition of moral panic, Hall et. al. theorized that the "rising crime rate equation" has an ideological function relating to social control. Crime statistics, in Hall's view, are often manipulated for political and economic purposes. Moral panics (e.g. over mugging) could thereby be ignited in order to create public support for the need to "police the crisis." The media play a central role in the "social production of news" in order to reap the rewards of lurid crime stories."

Source: Wikipedia

To read more on this artivle click the title ' Origins and ..........Moral Panic'

Moral Panic: Gangs

"Previous analyses of moral panics and gangs have emphasized the impact of media images as well as the public, police, and legislative response in relation to the immediate threat posed by gangs and gang members. What is absent from the current moral panic literature is the effect that a moral panic may have on the group (or individual) to whom it is directed. In this article, survey data from gang-involved and non-gag-involved youth, as well as police and gang task force members, are used to extend the empirical analysis of moral panics into the communities at which they are directed, using the criteria set forth by Goode and Ben-Yehuda (1994). The results suggest that individuals who are closest to gangs estimate the problem of gangs to be as serious as or more serious than those groups who have the responsibility for dealing with them. Thus, the gang moral panic seems to have the power to change how youth in gang-impacted communities conceive and present themselves."

Source: sociologyindex.com

To read more on this article click the title 'Moral Panic: Gangs'

What's a moral panic?

'A moral panic is a reaction by a group of people based on the false or exaggerated perception that some cultural behavior or group, frequently a minority group or a subculture, is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society. It has also been more broadly defined as an "episode, condition, person or group of persons" that has in recent times been "defined as a threat to societal values and interests." They are byproducts of controversies that produce arguments and social tension, or aren't easily discussed as some of these moral panics are taboo to many people.
These panics are generally fueled by media coverage or outright propaganda around a social issue, although semi-spontaneous moral panics do occur.'

Source: Wikipedia
To read more on what a moral panic is click the title, 'What's a moral panic'

Hypothesis

Is the media portrayl of street crime representative of a new moral panic?

Research Methods

To start my research on 'Crime and media' i need to know the different methods.
These include:

Primary Research: First hand research which includes interviews, surveys. The material is your own original research.

Secondary Research: Second hand research, therefore research which has been carried out by other people, which may not be accurate.

Quantitative Research: Rsearched based on numbers, which uses statitics and tables, which measure an event/phenomenon to produce hard data, which often involdes working with large groups of people.

Qualitative Research: Research which attempts to explain or understand something. Usually involves working with small groups of people.

Newspaper Language

Making Implications
'Newspapers need interesting stories. Sometimes they even create stories where there is no absolute evidence. By implying links between people, by suggesting that because one thing is true then another thing must be true, they may put two and two together to make five.'

To read the rest of the article click on the title 'Newspaper language'

source: putlearningfirst.com

In memory of Kiyan Prince

Its not just gang members being murdered, Kiyan Prince tried to stop a fight between two other people and he was the one who was killed, he was the innocent one who paid the biggest price. The following clip shows his friends remembering Kiyan, and their feelings towards gun and knife culture.
I decided to post this clip as it shows another side to black teenagers. It knocks back sterotypes, and shows not all black teenagers want knives and guns on the street, whatever the use intented.

Origin of the 'Gang'

Research

As i am looking at the representations of how the media portrays gangs, and gang behaviour, i will pay close attention to the language used in newspaper articles, and how the style and use of language differs in broad sheets and tabloids. This will also show the representations of the target audience, as the reader. The different styles of papers carry different target audiences and so will have diverse ideas about situations and opinions.

Do gangs have power?

"With their huge influence in all aspects of society, the media glorifies gangs & actually makes them feel empowered. Media typically refers to the internet, movies, music, the news, television, newspapers and other avenues of information. Most coverage of gangs, no matter how well-intentioned, almost always ends up glorifying gangs and the gang life."

from 'thinkquest.org'

Kiyan Princes death

Police investigating the murder of a talented teenage footballer are continuing to hunt for a 16-year-old seen running from the scene.
Kiyan Prince is thought to have been stabbed as he tried to break up a fight outside the London Academy school in Edgware, north London, on Thursday.

As schoolmates and teachers paid tribute to the popular 15-year-old, police stepped up patrols in Edgware.

Critical Research

I have chosen to look at 'crime and the media' for my critical research. My chosen case studies are Kiyan Prince and Sian Simpson. I will look at the representations and stereotypes the media has branded 'gangs' and how they are represeted in newspapers.