- "A condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests" p. 1
- Stereotyped in mass media
- Can have serious long lasting effects (i.e. Islamophobia since 9/11)
- Cohen argues in the case of youth culture - deviants and delinquents
- Generalisation of mods and rockers
- Sceptical revolution - questioning the media representations
- "Deviance is created by society" p. 5
- Every society has certain 'images' of its deviants
- The media provides already constructed/biased arguments as news
- "even if they are not self-consciously engaged in crusading or muck-raking, their very reporting of certain ‘facts’ can be sufficient to generate concern, anxiety, indignation or panic." p. 10
- "‘a considerable portion of what we call “news” is devoted to reports about deviant behaviour and its consequences'" p. 10
- Such news informs us of what's right and wrong
- Once filtered through media, representation becomes stereotyped
- News reports on disasters, or potential disasters create fear
- "Potential of threat"
- Sequence of disaster:
1. Warning: a condition which may arise
2. Threat: exposed to communication from others
3. Impact: disaster strikes and reaction to death, injuries etc.
4. Inventory: those exposed to disaster form a preliminary picture of what happened
5. Rescue: help for survivors
6. Remedy: more deliberate and formal activities to help those affected
7. Recovery: the community recovers from the events - stabilised condition
Inventory
- Distortion and exaggeration
- Over-reporting of events
- Sensational headlines, melodramatic vocab etc.
- Knopp 'shotgun approach' - front page build up, splashing pictures
- Excessive hyperbolic language to a point where it doesn't even make sense (i.e. the use of trigger words such as Islamist, or terrorist)
- "The continued media use of the term contributes to an emotionally charged climate in which the public tends to view every event as an “incident”"
- Spreading mass hysteria
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