For me one of the most interesting aspect of this subject has been the issue of moral panics. I have learnt that the role of the media in modern day society is seen as the broadcaster of news for the education of the public, a watchdog, an expression of society’s freedom of information and speech, as well as a provider of fact versus opinion as well as entertainment. Though, due to society’s ever expanding reliance on the need to know more about the things they are not familiar with such as fascinating crimes; numerous sources of the media such as paper, audio, visual and “new media” devote a great deal of energy to “deviance, sensational crimes, scandals, bizarre happenings and strange goings on” (Cohen, 1972). As a result of this phenomenon, much debate has been focused on the media’s ability to stimulate moral panic through the way they depict specific events that are more often than not, crime related. Due to these recurrently intense media provocations there are often numerous political ramifications that stem from the media uprising of many moral panics which in turn regularly result in changes in policy through the varying levels of authority including local, state and federal governments as well as the police force. Examples include; numerous drug laws and advertisements (especially surrounding methamphetamines and ecstacy), bikie laws, Sarah's Law (linked to paedophilia), muslims/foreigners in general and I believe the Greenhouse Effect! (damn the proposed carbon tax right to hell I say!)
The birth of moral panics as we know them:
As pointed out by Alyce, moral panics have been around for a long time although it only came into academic and everyday circulation through the analysis of two deviant youth subcultures based in England, the ‘Mods’ and ‘Rockers’, through the book ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panic’ (Cohen, 1972). Some of the earliest examples include the European witch-craze, based on the condemnation of witchcraft and ensuing development of stereotypes based on the weakness and liability of women in society some 500 years ago. Since those times, the evolution of moral panics has diverged from spreading via word of mouth and construction based on belief to media founded bombardment in modern society whereby previously unimportant issues to society come to the fore. Though through all this, the simple premise of the influence that the media has over political change has varied little over time; which I think is a shame really, and would like to echo the works of Critcher (2002), Denham (2008) and Jewkes (2004) who have all proposed and actively particated in attempting to alter the framework that defines moral panics - beauty, there might be some real news worth paying attention to one day :)
Instead of this bollocks:
Haha nice picture!
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