'An investigation into how and why the tabloid press generates moral
panics about male teenage delinquency.’
‘A young man in Britain today is unlikely to pick up a tabloid
newspaper without seeing himself reflected as a ‘terrifying teen’ or ‘heartless
hoodie’, wielding a knife or binge-drinking.' This illustrates how the tabloid
press continues to report about youths being ‘dangerous’ and leads to ongoing moral
panics within society, even after audiences knowing that tabloids are trivial
and not to be taken seriously. This leads to many members of the public
becoming increasingly scared and intimidated by regular young people who are
not criminals and do not cause anti-social behaviour. Teenagers, especially
young boys are most likely to be targeted by the media for being immoral or
delinquents in society. The media amplifies the issues of teenagers and their
social habits by making links to previous stories from the past generating a
moral panic. Stanley Cohen who studied Mods and Rockers showed that the actual
situation is far less serious than what the media have presented it to be.
Moral panics are created through different media texts e.g. films,
magazines, articles and other different platforms e.g. broadcasting on the
internet. Tabloids generate a disproportionate number of articles about
teenagers being ‘thugs’ and ‘youths out of control.’ Films like ‘American Pie’ (1999)
and ‘Adulthood’ (2008) demonstrate a difference from how teenagers can be seen
as comical and yet are also seen as highly anti-social and a threat to society.
In the 21st century it seems teenagers are not getting treated any better
and are increasingly represented in negative ways. This critical investigation will
analyse the reasons behind how and why the tabloid press generate moral panics
about male teenage delinquency.
Firstly, tabloid newspapers ‘contain stories
that tend to be trivial and are responsible for the creation of moral panics.’[1] This
could exemplify a reason behind why teenagers have been stereotyped and labelled
as being anti-social and aggressive. The tabloid press generate many stories
about young people as contemporary society is preoccupied, so it attracts the
widest possible market through stories and make sales rather than providing balanced objective and information that is
strictly fact and not exaggerated. ‘The Guardian’ published an article about a
movie which is called ‘Harry Brown’ (2009) that strikes fear in British cinema,
which is all about hoodies, teenagers and violence. This is currently the moral
panic in society and the main reason for creating a film that is hard hitting
reveals what society is like today and to stop it from happening. It has become
intimidating for many viewers and the audience. However, this article was
released by a broadsheet newspaper which shows they are going against the
stereotype as they are saying that teenagers are not all the same and showing
them a different light, unlike the tabloids that say all teenagers are the same
‘violent’ and ‘thugs’. 'A fear of the new and unknown if
something is new and popular - especially if it is popular among young people -
it is threatening, and… dangerous.’[2] This
shows the simplicity of the matter that teenagers is just something new and
simply another topic for tabloids to exploit in order to make sales.
Additionally, because it is to do with young people it has been stereotyped as ‘threatening’[3] and
created a panic in society to fear youths of today.
Additionally, the way the tabloid press generates these
moral panics is by predominantly coming
up with issues in society that will attract as many consumers as possible, they
follow up stories and exaggerate them in order to make sales. ‘Moral panics
occur when media and society link youth culture to juvenile delinquency. In all
moral panics, patterns emerge of how the media chooses to portray what society
finds threatening.'[4]
This suggests that moral panics are illustrated through the media portraying
certain groups in society that are threatening.
Tabloids also include stories that many people can relate to and
identify with because this way it will feel like a magazine to users and they
will want to purchase it regularly, unlike the ‘Financial Times’, which will
generally attracts people in business or finance. They also want to promote
their logo and bring in revenue for the company.
Moreover,
the tabloid press has an effect on their audience, this is because the
audiences feel tabloids are more interesting and customer related as it has
stories that they can engage in and it makes them feel like it is gossip so
they become more interested as it appeals to them a lot more than real news.
Also, institutions like ‘The Sun’, generally have soft news about celebrities
and social (gossip matters), they are also promoted through many different
marketing tools like adverts, billboards but usually word of mouth. 'The
typical user smokes their first joint in their mid-teens. The habit then
declines steeply as young people move into jobs.’[5] This is a representation
of teenagers which suggests that they do things that are illegal which
intimidate society and give reason for tabloids to attack them. Tabloids are
generally gossip newspapers which society can talk about whilst at work, on the
phone etc. The ideology behind creating this article was it shows positive values like
informing the readers and encouraging social and political change. However, it
was at the expense of young people which made society believe the message being
sent out was that teenagers in ‘hoods’ are anti-social and destructive youths
and this quickly became the stereotype. The public believed that this was what
all youths were like so it became the dominant ideology and now all youngsters
are labelled to be anti-social.
Tabloids
can also be found online posting reports on the internet, creating moral
panics, the reason behind it is that technology is changing and nearly everybody
has access to a computer. By posting (blogs, forums and other user generated
content) on the internet many people can see the news without going out to get
it and this will still advertise the institution due to consumers posting
information about them. Moral panics have been created around teenagers because
it has been portrayed they seem to be creating problems in society, however,
the argument can be interpreted that: Is it right to stereotype every teenager
the same, as a ‘Terrifying teen or heartless hoodie.’[6] This informs us that all
teens that are interested in news and society today always find themselves
being attacked even though they are innocent which makes society ‘fear’ them
and makes life difficult for all teenagers. 'It looks
at what certain media texts do to vulnerable groups - 'recruiting' them as
armed 'teenage thugs'. This idea of 'recruitment' and the word 'gangsters' in
the striking white-on-black headline connotes a world away from hanging around
on street corners to a more organised world of criminality and lawlessness.’[7] This
shows us that media texts, doing this could possibly backfire on themselves and
cause innocent teens to become delinquents and organize a world of crime that
is more subtle.
There is a huge social concern with young people at the moment, and it is
shown in the article above that society ‘fear’ teenagers because they believe
that they are ‘gangsters’[8],
rude, aggressive, violent and ‘dangerous’ all because of them wearing ‘hoods’,
society has know followed the stereotype and strongly believe it. This is an
example of self fulfilling prophecy and the hypodermic needle theory because
news is being fed to the passive audiences, regardless if it is true or not and
the public believe it, absorb it, thus, leading to a false panic to be created.
'The period was
characterised by social and industrial unrest and successive moral panics about
crime waves. A more aggressive and confrontational approach to law and order
displaced the emphasis on crime, as a social problem.’[9] This
demonstrates that socially it creates tension and stress for many members of
the public and the emphasis on the moral panic is usually exaggerated so
socially the public are suffering as well. This also simply re-emphasizes the
issue and the problem that occurs with teenagers; 'Don't think Britons needed a bunch of think-tank
eggheads to inform us our teenagers are the developed world's most accomplished
binge drinkers.'[10]
New media has allowed more people to be ‘producers’ meaning that there are
wider varieties for people to share their values and ideologies. Many people like
the producers of new media, want to show society that the concern should not
have happened because not all teenagers are like that, the same concern was
with many other social groups in the past and they did not cause any problems.
It is simply heightened negativities within the story that has fed the society
to believe that young people are ‘evil’. Also, society believe that young
people do not care about the community and always think about themselves, ‘me’,
which is an example of uses and gratifications theory. This suggests that society are the ones who
have made this decision to believe that young people are dangerous when they
are not, so society is thinking about themselves. Because the media is owned by
the hegemonic elite, it can be suggested that they demonize social groups that
are the ‘other’. Furthermore teenagers are portrayed to be the ‘other’ because
most owners of the mass media and editors are middle aged white men. Therefore
they would want to maintain their status in society by ridiculing people of a
different demographics.
‘What separates
hoodies from the youth cults of previous moral panics – the teddy boys, the
mods and rockers, the punks, the ravers.’[11] From the article above
this shows that many groups and youth cults from previous years have all been
around and been feared when the only problem was that the groups just liked the
new styles that were in fashion, enjoyed a certain kind of music and followed
their clothing (copy cat theory). This is the same with young people of today
who wear ‘hoods’ because of the music they listen to and the artists also wear
‘hoodies’.[12]
So, we are in a time where these new fashions are used. 'Major
moral panics in recent times have centered on fears about paedophillia, AIDS,
drugs, knife and gun crime.’[13] This clearly suggests how
these panics have come about before and is still to this present day a
continuing issue.
'The term moral panic was originally employed by Jock Young (1971)
and Stanley Cohen (1980).’[14] Moral panics were first
thought up by these theorists that stated what a moral panic was. ‘The
Guardian’ decided to write this article as it can help them economically grow
by generating many sales and making revenue from the number of copies sold.
What is more, by promoting a film on their newspaper they may make revenue from
producers of that text as well. Also, ‘The Guardian’ can grow and expand
through having an article that is appealing, interesting and keeps the reader engaged,
this will help them economically because they can then become recognized
through ‘word of mouth’ and then sell more copies and financially do even
better and by creating moral panics will attract more consumers. Also, during a
moral panic, everybody wants answers and wants to know all about the issue that
the world is facing at this point and if they do not get the answer society
draw up their own conclusions. ‘With
the populist press in full panic mode, everyone was out to propose answers.'[15]
The political problems with this text is that already there is news,
debates and issues about young people being ‘dangerous’. It is slowly becoming
a concern for superiors like the police and government because if the moral
panic continues to grow the police may have to intervene and clamp down on
young people by arresting suspicious teenagers (who may not have even done
anything). There is a new law which enables police to stop and search without
any questions and this is negative for youths as the way they are represented
in the media suggests that they are the main reason behind why there is a stop
and search policy and they are the ones who are searched more often than others. ‘The idea and the image of the
juvenile delinquent continued to colour films of all kinds made about teenagers
in the 1950s and 1960s, from sensationalised crime dramas and social problem
films'.[16] They do this because they
want to ensure the safety of the public as they can see what the issue is about
and be aware. However, it is not a good thing for teenagers because they may
not be doing anything and still get searched, arrested etc. 'A great deal of public discussion of the link
between media violence and children's aggressive behaviour.’[17] The government have become involved by sending out new laws on teenagers,
for example, not being able to leave school until the age of 18 and this could
be because after 16 young people hang around in the streets and cause havoc due
to their ‘aggressive
behaviour.’[18] Teenagers may just want to
start working, so the stereotype is constantly against them.
To conclude, teenagers are ‘intimidating’ and ‘violent’ to an extent and
moral panics can be generated because tabloids enjoy gossip and also teens are
the ones who are creating the most problems in society today. However, not all
teenagers are delinquents as they are not all the same as the ones represented
on the front page of tabloids, many teenagers do not go around 'mugging and picketing.’[19]. From a Marxist
perspective we can see that the Bourgeoisie are feeding information to the
proletariats. However the rise in new and digital media as given audiences more
power and they are now more aware of how the media is used to influence people.
It can be argued that audiences are no longer as passive as they historically
have been, meaning that they are no longer cultivated into trusting the moral
panics that are perpetuated by traditional media institutions.
WORD COUNT: 2, 195
Bibliography: Shown in alphabetical order;
'Works Cited’
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Ø
Bennet, P,
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Abington: Routledge.
Ø
Cook, P,
(1985), The cinema book 2nd edition, London: British film
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Ø
Hartley, J,
(2002), Communication, cultural and media studies The key concepts,
London: Routledge.
Ø
Kolker, R,
(2009), Media studies An Introduction, West-Sussex:
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Ø
Laughey, D,
(2009), Media studies Theories and approach, Great Britain: Kamera
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Lovin, J,
(2000), Media violence alert, USA: Dreamcatcher press inc.
Ø
Probert, D,
Graham, A, (2008), Advanced media studies, Oxfordshire:
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Ø
Rayner, P,
Wall, P, Kruger, S, (2001), AS media studies: The essential introduction,
London: Routledge.
Ø
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Internet:-
Ø Hoodies strike fear in British cinema -http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/05/british-hoodie-films
Ø
Moral panic and a return to gesture politics -http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-moral-panic-and-a-return-to-gesture-politics-462773.html
Ø Moral panics -
Ø Street Life -
Ø
Teenagers binge drink because adults think it is
cool and exciting -http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/rowanpelling/6123282/Teenagers-binge-drink-because-adults-think-it-is-cool-and-exciting.html
Ø The world map of cannabis -
‘Works Consulted’
Books:-
Ø
Casey, B, (2008),
Television
studies The key concepts, London: Routledge.
Ø
Gifford, C
(2006)
Ø
Strinati, D
(2000) p.55
Internet:-
Ø
Drug addiction in Britain -
Ø
Teenagers in court over shooting -http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Teenagers-in-court-over-shooting-708538133.html
Ø
http://www.wiretapmag.org/arts/ 43305/
