London Riots newspaper Headlines

Daily Express – august 9th 2011

The Daily Express went for the headline “Flaming Morons” and used words such as “thugs”, “thieves” and “terrorize”. It can be said that they are portraying the youth as stupid mindless thugs

It also shows the sheer panic that these rioters are causing and it can be said that these people fit the ‘folk devils’ theory by Stan Cohen.

The picture also shows a hooded rioter in a tracksuit which many people stereotype as youth clothing.

The Daily Telegraph - 9th August 2011

The Daily Telegraph’s headline was “Rule of the mob” almost suggesting that these rioters are dictating the goings on within the capital. Again this can be seen to portray Stan Cohen’s fold devils theory were a certain group causes moral panic and is basically is the scapegoat for all that has happened in this case the youths.

The picture shows a person jumping from a burning building, this photo could be seen to help provoke anger towards the youths as they have done such a thing as this which could be seen as biased.

The Independent - 9th August 2011

The independent is the best example that portrays Stan Cohen’s theory using the sentence “Police and politicians powerless” which would obviously provoke panic in the wider society because if the people who are meant to keep order are powerless to the situation what would happen.Stan Cohen’s moral panic theory can be applied to this newspaper as they saying that the people who lead and protect the public cannot do anything in the situation, which would create panic. Cohen’s deviance amplification theory can also be applied as the paper says ‘London burns’ which is overexagerating the situation as not all of London was burning which again can spark moral panic as the capital city is at siege.

9th August 2011

The metro paper can be seen as biased as they using phrases such as “masked youths” with word “attack” this is not strictly true as it wasn’t all youths who took part in this anti social act. The independent seem to have joined the bandwagon and kicked a group who don’t have a voice to fight back.

Daily Mail Online - 10th August 2011

This is an online article and it shows the global attention that the riots are getting as it has front pages of newspapers from Cape Town and Johannesburg. It also shows that the British youths are getting global backlash from everywhere especially from Anthony Daniels who labels the British youth ‘the most unpleasant and violent in the world’ which seems a slight overreaction and very unfair on certain youths who are roped into this label.

In conclusion I believe that these rioters did cause some sort of moral panic, but I believe that the media have poured fuel on the flames and people seemed to have believed the media that all youths are thugs which certainly isn’t true.

Hackney Gazette – August 11th 2011 This was published towards the end of the riots, the attention seemed to have turned towards who is to blame rather than the damage that has been caused. This seems to be a rarity throughout the week someone who seems to stuck up for the rioters blaming the society rather than the individuals.