The cycle of moral panics begins as suggested with a deviant or criminal act, which is generally considered to be a threat to the fabric of society. The media identify, amplify and exaggerate the deviancy in simplified terms, sometimes selectively misrepresenting and occasionally even deliberately bring about events in the pursuit of headlines. The deviants are as a result disgrace and acknowledged as an 'out-group' from mainstream society - being represented and rumoured as 'not to be trusted' and as 'troublemakers', social isolation of the 'out-group' results, and they are categorised almost as a sub-culture. In turn those involved may gradually identify with this role, further increasing
One recent example of a moral panic was the case of the James Bulger murder in the early 1990s. Two 11-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables abducted James from a shopping precinct in Liverpool. They walked him two miles through crowed streets to a railway line, where they inflicted massive injuries resulting in his death. This deviant act committed by fellow children dominated newspaper headlines and created a panic and outrage. The murder was portrayed by the media as a horrific act, which symbolized the degeneration of modern British society, despite the fact that statistically such murders were extremely rare and the UK, though not unique.
My belief is that most people in a working class society will have great exposure to media because of the culture that they surround themselves with television and radio (both having news reports) and read tabloid newspapers which start most moral panics.
Violent television and videos are said to be responsible for anti-social behaviour in children. The violent images incorporated in these films are said to make the child tempted into trying the events in the films in real life, the more the films are watched the greater the urge to copy becomes. The film Child’s Play 3 was blamed for influencing the two child murderers of Jamie Bulge. The national tabloid The Sun condemned the film and publicly destroyed copies of the video, this was ironic however as the owner of the newspaper also owns the televisions company Fox who showed the film three nights previously.
Another recent event like this was over computer games, this panic was first linked with the Television argument, later however a Japanese scientist claimed that his research had shown that playing any game, not only violent games, had an effect on the brain causing antisocial behaviour. Prince Charles publicly condemned computer gaming asking for funding in a campaign against it during the recent panic. However it appears the panic has no sense and careful consideration as the computer games industry is the fastest growing industry in Britain and any ban on computer games would have serious repercussions on the country’s economy.
Moral panics are basically aimed at anyone who could be affected by the topic that they are about, the music side often concerns parents of teenagers who are likely to listen to the music. Moral panic caused many parents to ban Eminem CDs from their house which if listened to by many would have no effect; constant media attention caused a massive uproar in the houses of many until the media attention ceased.
In America religious groups deemed Harry Potter Satanic and many parents would not allow their children to read the books as they were led to believe the books could brainwash the children into performing satanic rituals and joining religious cults. This subsided and returned with the film’s release but has yet again subsided.
The media has a great impact in the creation of moral panics. They are generally the cause as they have the ability to create a single minority group as the main cause of all societies’ ills. They do this to increase profit as large stories about things that threaten our culture and values will sell more newspapers or get better ratings.
The media influences the public by emphasising deviance and exaggerating to create a more interesting story. This creates a common enemy in the public eye and causes people to unite in ridding society of this. The government has to respond to this as they are elected and if they do nothing they will have a bad public opinion, by this the media can influence society.
The media tends to grab the attention of certain groups, such as parents, working class areas. Many of the subjects which appear are to do with children’s activities (computer games and music) and are aimed at creating a sense of panic with parents, the race issue is more likely to affect any one living in a working class area as that is where most illegal immigrants are place because it's cheaper to put them there.
Another point is people have biases; children are more likely to try and defend issues such as computer games because they enjoy playing them. Adults are less likely to do this although may defend some subjects because they are in favour of them. It is unlikely a child would pay much attention to subjects like single parent benefits unless they are living off them because it would not affect them. Both age categories were concerned about race and immigration, social class and media hype are both factors in this.
Some adults ignore the moral panics as they have seen them from there own childhood based around music and comic books and know that they are generally based around a minority’s deviance.
In conclusion, moral panics are not a new phenomenon; they tend to arise in periods of social upheaval and change. The path of a panic can take one of two directions; it can quickly die down and is more or less forgotten to a great degree or can have more serious and lasting implications such as new legislation and changes in social policy.
Society plays their part, encouraged by the press - people who are in the midst of a moral panic clamour for any available news and basically believe anything they are told. Moral panics feed off guilt that is spread by contagion to make people feel more comfortable by blaming another group for their deviances.
