This document outlines aims and objectives for analyzing media representations of the 2011 London riots. It asks what the riots can tell us about: 1) Media representations of youth as violent criminals, 2) How media coverage may have inflated the riots into a moral panic, and 3) The role of media in public debate. It suggests researching how images, clips and adjectives were reused in press/TV coverage and what connotations they attached to British youth.

2. Aims & Objectives
What might an
analysis of the London
riots tell us about
media
representations, about
media effects, and
about the role of the
media in public
debate?

3. Language Use
David Buckingham

9. What is the dominant
representation of youth that is being
perpetuated?

10. In 2005 40% of newspaper
coverage featuring young
people focused on
violence, crime or anti-social
behaviour.
(IPSOS/MORI survey)

11. RESEARCH!
Were certain images, video clips, adjectives recycled frequently in the press and on TV
news?
What connotations did these attach to British youth?
Could we argue that the coverage was talking up the disturbances into a moral panic?

12. Making Links to Stanley Cohen
• Link to 1960’s mods and rockers – Cohen argued the
media talked up the disturbances into a bigger moral
panic.
• Buckingham argues that;
• the media didn’t simply mis-represent what
happened.
• Moral panics are not simply ‘irrational’ responses
• Media stereotypes are never simply inaccurate: they
always contain a grain of truth.
• In the case of the London riots the coverage reflected a
more general fear of young people (and especially
working-class young people)

13. Do you agree with Buckingham?
Is there evidence from texts that we’ve already looked at that
this ‘fear’ already exists and the media coverage simply
amplified it?
Can we link in Acland’s theory about representations reflecting
adult concerns and anxieties?