Critical Investigation First Draft

MEST 4: Coursework
Sundeep Sohal

Critical investigation - 'An investigation into how and why the tabloid press generates moral panics about male teenage delinquency'.

'As it is, 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.'[1] This quotation illustrates how the tabloid press makes many copies about youths being ‘dangerous’, this leads to moral panics within society even after knowing that tabloids are ‘trivial. This leads to many members of the public becoming increasingly ‘scared’ and intimidated by young people who are not criminals and do not cause anti-social behaviour. Moral panics have been created through many different texts e.g. articles, documentary’s, movies and many different platforms e.g. newspapers, TV, internet and cinema. The tabloid generates many articles about teenagers being ‘thugs’ and ‘youths out of control’. Films like ‘American Pie’ 1999 and ‘Adulthood’ 2008 show the difference between how teenagers used to be comical and now are seen as ‘gangsters’. As the years continue to roll on teenagers are not getting treated any easier and now everything seems to be negative and overly serious. This then causes members of society to ask how is the tabloid press doing this? Why is the tabloid press doing this? Therefore, in my critical investigation I am going to explore these questions in detail and analyse the reasons behind how and why.

Firstly, a tabloid newspaper ‘contain stories that tent to be trivial and are responsible for the creation of moral panics'.[2] This could suggest the reason behind why teenagers have been stereotyped and labeled as being anti-social and aggressive. The tabloid press generate many stories about young people and now in contemporary society more and more have been distributed, tabloids do this because they want to attract the widest possible market and make sales rather than providing information that is strictly fact and not exaggerated. ‘The Guardian’ released an article about a movie that strikes fear in British cinema which is all about ‘Hoodies’ and ‘Teenagers’ this is now the moral panic in society today and the main concern to create a film like this it has become intimidating for many viewers and the audience but 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’. 'It is a general and dependable response to modernity as whole, a fear of the new and unknown, a certainty that exists within uncertainty: because something is new and popular - especially if it is popular among young people - it is threatening, and because threatening, dangerous'.[3] This shows the simplicity of the matter that teenagers is just something new and because it is with young people it has been stereotyped as threatening.

Additionally, the way the tabloid press generate these moral panics about teenagers is through 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, as video games were to the 1999 Columbine shootings. In all moral panics, patterns emerge of how the media chooses to portray what society finds threatening, and what the panics mean in a larger societal context.'[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 attract people in business or finance. They also want promote their logo and bring in revenue for the company.
Moreover, the tabloid press has an effect on their audience and 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. Also, institutions like ‘The Sun’, generally have news about celebrities and what is going on in society (trivial 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, with use peaking in the mid-20s. The habit then declines steeply as young people move into jobs and discover they have to get up in the morning.'[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 newspaper articles which society can talk about whilst at work or on the phone etc. The ideology behind creating this article was it showing positive values like informing the readers and encouraging social and political change. However, it was 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 and the public believed that this was what all youths were like so it became the dominant ideology and now all younsters are labelled to be anti-social.
Tabloids can also be found online posting reports on the internet create moral panics, the reason behind it is that technology is changing and nearly everybody has access to a computer, so by posting on the internet many people can see the news without going out to get it and this will still advertise the company. Moral panics have been created on teenagers because they are the ones that are creating the most problems in society, however, my argument is that: Is it right to stereotype every teenager the same? 'As it is, 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.'[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 lat 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 systematic, materialistic and organised world of criminality and lawlessness.’[7] This shows us that media texts by 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 aggressive, rude, violent and ‘dangerous’ all because of them wearing ‘hoods’, society has know followed the stereotype and strongly believe it. '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.’[8] 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.
Many people like the producers of the new film want to show society that the concern shouldn’t 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 so it is just a over-reacted story that has fed the society to believe that young people are ‘evil’. Also, society believe that young people do not care about society and always think about ‘me’ which suggest 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 rather.
‘What separates hoodies from the youth cults of previous moral panics – the teddy boys, the mods and rockers, the punks, the ravers.’[9] 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. Which is the same with young people of today who wear ‘hoods’ because of the music they watch as the artist wear ‘hoodies’ also and we are in a time where these new fashions are around.
'The term moral panic was originally employed by Jock Young (1971) and Stanley Cohen (1980).’[10] Moral panics were first thought up by these theorists that stated what a moral
panic is. ‘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 get make revenue from producers of that text as well. Also, ‘The Guardian’ can grow and expand through economically having an article that is appealing, interesting and makes the reader interested and wanting to read more, 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.
The political problems with this text is that already there is news, debates and issues about young people being ‘dangerous’ and intimidating, it is slowly becoming a concern for superiors like the police and government because if the moral panic continues and grows 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 already a new law which enables police to stop and search without any questions and this is negative for young people because 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 not. ‘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'.[11] They do this because they want to ensure the safety of the public as they can see what the fuss is about and be aware but it is not a good thing for teenagers because they may not be doing anything and still get searched, arrested etc. The government could become involved by sending out new laws on teenagers, for example, not being able to leave school until 18 now and this could be because after 16 young people may hang around in the streets and cause havok but teenagers may just want to start working, so the stereotype is always 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 and some teenagers are not all the same as the ones represented on the front page of tabloids. 'The other tabloids including The Post and Today all ran similar stories, many
on their front pages along with photographs of writhing masses of sweaty teenagers, thrill seeking youngsters in a dance frenzy at the secret party attended by more than 11,000.'[12] The ravers in the photo look hot, crazed and quite demented. Also, the use of an exclamation mark in a headline is usually reserved for only the most shocking of subjects. The moral panic had begun.' This shows how petty and insignificant the problems are and that the moral panic does not have to be made into a big deal like it is.

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Bibliography

'Works Cited’

Books:-

Ø Rayner, P, Wall, P, Kruger, S, (2001), AS media studies: The essential introduction, London: Routledge.

Ø Kolker, R, (2009), Media studies An Introduction, West-Sussex: wiley-blackwell.

Ø Probert, D, Graham, A, (2008), Advanced media studies, Oxfordshire: Phillip Allan.

Ø Bennet, P, Slater, J, Wall, P, (2006), A2 media studies: The essential introduction, Abington: Routledge.

Ø Hartley, J, (2002), Communication, cultural and media studies The key concepts, London: Routledge.

Ø Cook, P, (1985), The cinema book 2nd edition, London: British film institute.

Internet:-

Ø http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/18/asbos-youthjustice

Ø http://www.gamebits.net/other/mqp/

Ø http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-world-map-of-cannabis-1803642.html

Ø http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/18/asbos-youthjustice

Ø http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/05/british-hoodie-films

Ø http://www.lycos.com/info/moral-panic--moral-panics.html

‘Works Consulted’

Books:-

Ø Lovin, J, (2000), Media violence alert, USA: Dreamcatcher press inc.

Ø Laughey, D, (2009), Media studies Theories and approach, Great Britain: Kamera books.

Ø Casey, B, (200), Television studies The key concepts, London: Routledge.

Ø Williams, K, (2003), Understanding media theory, London: Arnold publishers.

Internet:-

Ø http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6399961.stm

Ø http://www.beatingaddictions.co.uk/drug-addiction-britain.html

Ø http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Teenagers-in-court-over-shooting-708538133.html

Ø http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/rowanpelling/6123282/Teenagers-binge-drink-because-adults-think-it-is-cool-and-exciting.html

Ø http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-moral-panic-and-a-return-to-gesture-politics-462773.html






[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/18/asbos-youthjustice
[2] Rayner, Phillip, Wall, Peter, Kruger, Stephen, (2001), AS media studies: The essential introduction, London: Routledge. pg. 223
[3] Kolker, Robert, (2009), Media studies An Introduction, West-Sussex: wiley-blackwell pg. 269
[4] http://www.gamebits.net/other/mqp/
[5] http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-world-map-of-cannabis-1803642.html
[6] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/18/asbos-youthjustice
[7]Probert, David, Graham, Andrew, (2008), Advanced media studies , Oxfordshire: Phillip Allan pg. 172

[8] Bennet, Peter, Slater, Jerry, Wall, Peter, (2006), A2 media studies: The essential introduction, Abington: Routledge.
[9] http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/nov/05/british-hoodie-films
[10] Hartley, John, (2002), Communication, cultural and media studies The key concepts, London: Routledge. pg. 147
[11] Cook, Pam, (1985), The cinema book 2nd edition, London: British film institute. pg. 218
[12] http://www.lycos.com/info/moral-panic--moral-panics.html