1.5 Impact of media representations
Explanation Impact Example
Moral panic- This makes the public This can be demonstrated in the
Moral panic is when the fearful and worried. The Mods and Rockers case where
media exaggerates a crime impact is by making the teenagers ‘destroyed’ a town in a
or statistics creating a panic public think the issue is mass fight. The violence came as a
amongst the public. The worse than it actually is. This result of the moral panic in which the
seriousness of the crime and can mean that the public media had built up in the run up to
chances of becoming a reacts more severely and Easter weekend.
victim are exaggerated. may have an unrealistic The media portrayed this event as
want for justice. The public sensationalised and over
may also worry that they exaggerated the actions with one
will become a victim of the newspaper claiming there were 97
crime. arrests when there were only 24
arrests. The coverage and research
of Stan Cohen showed different
views of the same world for different
generations. Many people were left
frightened and increased fears about
something that might threaten the
moral values of society. This meant
that the police amplified the situation
because of the increase of media
presence creating moral panic. The
public reacted with fear and were
scared for their safety and
anticipated violence from them. The
newspapers also brought tension
between the 2 groups which
instigated more violence.
Changing public concerns The impact of changing Recent terrorism threats have cause
and attitudes- public concerns and worry and panic within the public
The media representation of attitudes depends on the after events such as the Manchester
certain groups can affect governments and policy concert in 2017. With there being so
the public's attitude by priorities. Such as, in much media coverage and reporting
triggering moral panic. It response to terrorist attacks, on these events, it causes people to
depends on what the media the government may raise be fearful that they will become
are reporting and what is the threat levels. This may victims. The more we believe the
most relevant at the time. cause panic amongst the crime occurs, the more fearful we
This frightens people and public. are.
causes alarms amongst the
public. With the media The media has also been increasing
representing certain groups the coverage of knife crimes. This
in negative ways meaning strikes fear into the public which
, that the public perception could cause them to be fearful; of
of these groups changes. going out at night and may avoid
those who they stereotype to be
carrying a knife.
Another example is Paul Baker who
found that the public links
islam/muslims to words relating to
violence and there is an
overwhelimingly negative portrayal
of Muslims and Islam. Newspapers
have also used phrases such as ‘the
muslim community’ to seem like they
are all one and are homogenous. This
can impact people to have false
information on muslims, influence
people to stereotype against them,
discriminate against and fear them.
However, in reality they are just
normal people but some newspapers
have led some people to believe
these stereotypes due to a select few
people who follow this religion.
Since the Islamic terrorist attcks in
2001, meide reporitng of Islama dn
Muslims has been largely negative
contributing the the public forming
stereotypes and causing a change in
public attitudes towards Islam.
Explanation Impact Example
Moral panic- This makes the public This can be demonstrated in the
Moral panic is when the fearful and worried. The Mods and Rockers case where
media exaggerates a crime impact is by making the teenagers ‘destroyed’ a town in a
or statistics creating a panic public think the issue is mass fight. The violence came as a
amongst the public. The worse than it actually is. This result of the moral panic in which the
seriousness of the crime and can mean that the public media had built up in the run up to
chances of becoming a reacts more severely and Easter weekend.
victim are exaggerated. may have an unrealistic The media portrayed this event as
want for justice. The public sensationalised and over
may also worry that they exaggerated the actions with one
will become a victim of the newspaper claiming there were 97
crime. arrests when there were only 24
arrests. The coverage and research
of Stan Cohen showed different
views of the same world for different
generations. Many people were left
frightened and increased fears about
something that might threaten the
moral values of society. This meant
that the police amplified the situation
because of the increase of media
presence creating moral panic. The
public reacted with fear and were
scared for their safety and
anticipated violence from them. The
newspapers also brought tension
between the 2 groups which
instigated more violence.
Changing public concerns The impact of changing Recent terrorism threats have cause
and attitudes- public concerns and worry and panic within the public
The media representation of attitudes depends on the after events such as the Manchester
certain groups can affect governments and policy concert in 2017. With there being so
the public's attitude by priorities. Such as, in much media coverage and reporting
triggering moral panic. It response to terrorist attacks, on these events, it causes people to
depends on what the media the government may raise be fearful that they will become
are reporting and what is the threat levels. This may victims. The more we believe the
most relevant at the time. cause panic amongst the crime occurs, the more fearful we
This frightens people and public. are.
causes alarms amongst the
public. With the media The media has also been increasing
representing certain groups the coverage of knife crimes. This
in negative ways meaning strikes fear into the public which
, that the public perception could cause them to be fearful; of
of these groups changes. going out at night and may avoid
those who they stereotype to be
carrying a knife.
Another example is Paul Baker who
found that the public links
islam/muslims to words relating to
violence and there is an
overwhelimingly negative portrayal
of Muslims and Islam. Newspapers
have also used phrases such as ‘the
muslim community’ to seem like they
are all one and are homogenous. This
can impact people to have false
information on muslims, influence
people to stereotype against them,
discriminate against and fear them.
However, in reality they are just
normal people but some newspapers
have led some people to believe
these stereotypes due to a select few
people who follow this religion.
Since the Islamic terrorist attcks in
2001, meide reporitng of Islama dn
Muslims has been largely negative
contributing the the public forming
stereotypes and causing a change in
public attitudes towards Islam.
