Critical Investigation

Working title.

To what extent does news media create moral panic and represent teenagers in a negative way that the public should fear?

Angle.

What is it that makes the viewer’s believe in the media? Surely we all know that it’s exaggerated.

Hypothesis.

Throughout the years teenage violence have been amplified and exaggerated and its imprinted an impression on the public.

Linked production piece.

‘Newsnight’ or ‘Channel 4’ news report that follows a (black) working class youth, represented in a responsible, fair, accurate way

MIGRAIN

Media language:

·         Camera shots of the characters; individual shots to get to know the character.

·         A split screen to contrast and compare the actors.

·         Wide view to see their surroundings/setting

·         Wouldn’t be much close ups as it is a documentary and not a music video or a drama.

·         Low angle shots- superiority or high angle- look down on them.

·         Non-diegetic sounds.

Institution: 

·         Media institutions like Sky News, which is partly owned by News Corporation which is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

·         BBC news; a public service broadcaster

·         Uses and grats- Blumler and kats. Interactive, red button.

Genre:

·         Non fiction (but can be questionable)

·         News report

·         Formal; more realistic and believable.

Representation:

·         Stereotypes and also countertypes.

·         Representation of teenagers being loud, disrespectful, carefree, violent etc

·         The countertype: smart, educated, university, posh etc.

·         How others see young teens. Are they intimidated?

·         Representation of the intuition. Are they informative, quick, accurate?

Audience:

·         58% of Sky News viewers are men

·         Sky News is watched by a more mature audience, over 62% of viewers are 45+

·         Sky News has a monthly reach of 8.3m individuals. (http://www.skymedia.co.uk/Channels/news/sky-news.aspx)

·         ABC1

·         White, middle class.

Narrative:

·         Voice over’s to narrate what’s going on. Provides an anchor. The voice of God.

·         Opening has a summary of all the stories so the audience knows what to expect.

·         Also hooks them in to continue watching to get the full story.

·         The story is told by the reporter. Gets views from people involved i.e. victims, families local community.

SHEP:

Social:

·         Are the negative stereotypes being reinforced?

·         Who are the actual victims? Teenagers because they all have been given a negative image. Or adults who live in a world with a bunch of thugs.

Historical:

·         Bach in the 1980’s teenagers (especially females) represented as being naive.

·         Early 90’s represented as being conforming and un-sexualised .

·         Now we’re drawn a more realistic view of who they really are; loud, sexually aware, disobedient.

http://aarmanitvdrama.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/representation-of-british-youth.html

Economic:

·         Have teenagers suffered economically? EMA, increase costs of university ,protests

Political:

·         The government restricts teens. University more expensive.

Issues and Debates

Representation and stereotyping:

·         The way the media demonises the youth has left an imprint on today’s society as being ill-mannered, violent and being associated with drugs, sex and gangs. Hoodies, joggers, baseball caps, oversized shirts are a part or the iconography of the stereotyped teens. The media reports certainly does amplify stories to do with the youth like in recent events such as the protests and riots; it was all that was shown on all news channels. Where’s the success of teenagers? Their academic success? Achievements?

Moral Panic:

·         Moral panic is caused when the media exaggerates stories scaring the public. As an aexample the summer of 2011; the London riots. People were informed to stay inside and to not go outside at the fear of being attacked or robbed and also to keep children inside so they wouldn’t join the riots. The news reached all over so before long, even places that weren’t affected would have heard about it which resulted in more panic

Media technology and the digital revolution – changing technologies in the 21st century:

·         Teenagers have become massive consumers of emedia and especially social networks such as facebook and twitter.

·         Also connect through Smartphones.

·         Blackberries were a huge problem in the summer of 2011

·         Moral panic as the news go viral

·         ‘ Sexting’, sending naked pictures.

Regulation and censorship:

·         There have been rules put up to restrict the view of violence from children but what about teenagers; they’ll still be affected with what they see on the TV and on video games. It influences their behaviour and attitudes.

Theories

Audience theories: In terms of socio economics, people who watch news reports are more likely to be in the higher band of ABC1

Semiotics: this idea was introduced by Barthes and is about signs and denotations. So the denotations of the costume like hoods, caps, joggers etc. It could symbolise carefree and no respect.

Gender and Ethnicity: stereotypically what would define a violent teenager would be a young black male.

Colonialism: Due to post colonialism Alvarado distinguishes between four groups and the way teenagers are represented then they’d belong in the dangerous category.

Contemporary media Landscape

Seeing how teens are on gadgets and social networking sites, constantly updating on their social lives, it played a big part in organising crimes that happened in big groups like the London riots and the protests.

Media text

I’ll mostly be focusing on the protests that happened when the cost of university went up and EMA stopped.

Other media texts

·         London riots 2011

·         Young man speaks up to Borris Johnson

·         Movie: Anuvahood

·         Rap music videos

TV Documentaries

·         The worlds strictest parents-BBCTHREE. Shows how different cultures bring up their kids.

Articles

·         Teenage violence: Life at the sharp end- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1556148/Teenage-violence-Life-at-the-sharp-end.html

·         Teenage victims of domestic violence targeted as definition is extended http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/19/teenage-victims-domestic-violence-definition

·         London teenage violence: the death toll http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/02/knifecrime.ukguns1?INTCMP=SRCH

·         Senior police officer blames parents for teenage violence

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/aug/15/ukguns.society?INTCMP=SRCH

Teen 'stabbed through heart' at Boxing Day sales, court hears http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9628040/Teen-stabbed-through-heart-at-Boxing-Day-sales-court-hears.html

Academic Text/Books

·         Inside the mind of a teen killer- Phil Chalmers 2009. "We are living in the most violent times in recorded peacetime history."

·         The Psychology of Teen Violence and Victimization-Volume 1- Michele A. Paludi 2011. "Teenage victims are not often afforded the same resources as adult victims of physical abuse and sexual violence, and even when they are, the resources are designed to assist adult victims and are not tailored to the unique psychology of teens, who are often marginalized in our society.”

·         Page: 22. Delinquency in Society-Robert Regoli, John Hewitt, Matt DeLisi - 2009. “In the public’s mind, a few juveniles hanging out together on a street corner elicits the image of delinquent gang. While these juveniles may not belong to any formal gang, it is thei appearance that decides a person’s view.”

·         Page: 6. Youth Cultures: Texts, Images, and Identities-Kerry Mallan, Sharyn Pearce – 2003. “Theoretical stories are situated within the writers’ own personal predilections and disciplinary traditions”

·         Page 1: Crime, Justice and the Media- By Ian Marsh, Gaynor Melville, Gaynor Melville. 2009 .-“Dorfman (2001) found that over three-quarters (76%) of the public said they formed their opinions about crime from what they see or read in the news, more than three times the number of those who said they got their primary information on crime from personal experience (22%).”

·         Youth Media By Bill Osgerby: Page 1 “they are shopping for themselves, spending for all they are worth… Some of us may wonder how they get the energy, other how do they get the money.” It doesn’t need answering cos of the media stereotyping

·         Page:67 “Positive media representation of youth did not disappear, but there was a palpable resurgence of more negative coverage” it’s still there but negative overshadows it

·         Parents, Children, Young people and the state by Sandra Shaw: Page: 90 “The notion of ‘youth’ is seen as a fairly recent invention” to serve a purpose?

·         Page: 91 “young people themselves will be aware of this negative portrayal of youth, which while it may be about the minority” minority are ‘criminals’ the majority are aware of this and could be scared.

·         Page 92 “Young people could be judged on ‘what they might do’ rather than what they actually do” if everyone would have that attitude towards everyone where will we stand in society? In fear of everyone not just the youth. So why is it only the youth?

 ·         Folk Devils and Moral Panics: 30th Anniversary Edition by Stanley Cohen. Page 26: “What had happened was inevitably going to happen again”. That what the media made it look like and that’s shown to the public, resulting in them panicking where delinquents would “strike next”

·         Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television By Sarita Malik. Page 10: “Radicalised difference is a key feature of British race relations and has been aptly borne” because of the media showing racial differences over and over again the British audience simply just accepts it now and believes it, cultivation theory.
·         Representing Race: Racisms, Ethnicity and the Media By John D H Downing, Charles Husband. Page 9: “The mass media provide an organisational framework within which individuals interact in the context of set roles and established power hierarchies.” Because of the media’s racial ideologies its created “power hierarchies” to establish which race is more inferior.