London Roits Write Up

1. Overview of Contempory Case-study:

What was the context of the riots?
When Mark Duggan was shot dead by police people started a peaceful protest as they believed it was down to police racism. This then blew out of control as people used this situation as an excuse to fight back against the government, even though many of the rioters just wanted to join in with the 'fun'. They caused chaos in their local areas, setting fire to almost everything and vandalising and looting shops.

What were the reasons given as to why youths were involved in the riots?
Many youths say the riots were a fight back against raise in university prices, cuts in funds such as EMA and the general treatment that youths receive by the older generation and those of higher status. However it is argued that the majority of the rioters were just there for entertainment, something to do, or just to cause trouble.

Were youths given a fair and unbiased representation in the press coverage of the riots?
The majority of the reports don't give the rioters a fair say as they always interview either the victims or the people in control eg. the police.Whenever they do give quotes of the rioters it is often the violent things they shout in the height of the moments. They are rarely questioned reasonably on their behaviour and given a proper opportunity to explains themselves.

2. Applying Theory

How can the coverage of the London Riots be understood in relation to the ideas of Stan Cohen?
Stan Cohen created the idea of Folk Devils, which in this case are the rioters. The older generation always label youngsters as trouble, and situations like this back up their point. These Folk Devils create moral panicks and the media usually plays these situations up.

David Gauntlett stated that, 'identities are not given but are constructed and negotiated' how does this apply?
These youngsters have other identities eg. son, brother, colleague, but they are now mainly labelled as 'thug' or 'theif' due to their most recent behaviour. They could move on from this bad situation but will always be remembered as being a rioter.

From the research you have conducted into the coverage of the London Riots, to what extent is the representation of the collective identities of youths constructed by the press? Consider for and against arguments.
A lot of what goes on nowadays is published in the papers, whether it's relevent or not. Often in the papers things are exaggerated or views are biased to prove a point. In this case, youths are being represented as violent and disrespectful, these articles disregard those of us who don't behave like this and had nothing to do with the riots. These articles make the readers group all young people into a certain stereotype which is invalid. On the other hand people are often quick to make their own judgements about people due to their appearance and often don't consider how they actually are as a person.