“The battle for London”[1]
Did the news media provide a fair and accurate
representation of British youth during the 2011 riots?
Despite
the fact that the majority of people involved in the London riots were youths,
was there a fair and accurate representation of British youth? The Daily Mirror
which is a redtop tabloid newspaper wrote "British youths are the most
unpleasant and violent in the world"[2], just two days after the
tragic events took place. The rioters were mainly given a negative
representation without the majority of mainstream news companies explaining or
considering the reasons behind the riots. TV news stations such as the BBC and
SKY news focused less on the rioters involved in the live media coverage. They
only had live footage with the breaking news headline “London riots”.
The
national outbreak occurred when the unarmed 29 year old Tottenham resident Mark
Duggan was killed by the British police as he suffered from a gunshot wound to
the chest; the death of Mark Duggan resulted in peaceful protest which took
place outside of Tottenham police station. This then went on to cause a
national outrage amongst the British youth which caused major riots which
started off in the streets of London and the proceeded to other cities around
the UK; the rioters were causing arson, looting stores, violently robbing
civilians and causing chaos in groups. People claimed that the anger against
the British police is what triggered the events. This was a major tragedy for
Britain and caused a moral panic across different communities this can be
linked to Stanley Cohens theory of moral panics and he suggested that “a moral
panic occurs when a condition, episode, person or group emerges to become
defined as a threat to societal values and intererest” [3]; He also believed that the
media play are responsible for enforcing moral panics – even if its just by
reporting news.
In this
essay there will be an investigation of how British youth have been represented
in the media and how much the negative stereotype of youths is reinforced in
the media, there was a variety of different headlines and articles published by
the major players in British news media.
“This
explains how the London riots caused a moral panic through youth disorder. A
moral panic is an instance of public anxiety or alarm in response to a problem
regarded as threatening the moral standards of society.”[4] British newspapers consistently featured
dramatic images of what the Daily Mirror called 'young thugs with fire in
their eyes and nothing but destruction on their mind'[5], or the Daily Express
called simply 'flaming morons'[6]. The riots took place in different
towns across the whole of London. It then eventually spread to other cities
around the UK such as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Manchester and
Salford. The riots eventually resulted in the death of 5 people and 16 people were
injured directly from violence. It also lead to a mass deployment of the
British police which lead to more than 3,000 arrest across the UK and
approximately £200 million worth of property damage.
In the past, youths have been negatively
portrayed in the media, according to statistics; “More than half of the stories
about teenage boys in national and regional newspapers in the past year (4,374
out of 8,629) were about crime. The word most commonly used to describe them
was ‘Yobs’ (591 times), followed by ‘thugs’ (254 times), ‘sick’ (119 times) and
‘feral’ (96 times)”. [7]There
were also other terms used to describe the youth such as “scum”, [8]“Inhuman”
[9]and
“threatening”. [10]During
the riots these were some of the popular words used by redtop newspaper
companies such as ‘The Daily Mail’ and ‘the Sun’. It was quite interesting how British youth
were being described so strongly without as much consideration to the positives
characteristics of most of the youths in Britain. “The rioters were
consistently and repeatedly identified as young people. These were the ‘feral
youth’, the ‘hoodies’ and ‘yobs’ who apparently rampage uncontrolled in our
cities, bent simply on destruction for its own sake”. [11]This
goes in hand with Medhurst’s theory of stereotypes, which believes that there
is a short hand to identify a large group of people (youth). “A continuing position
in youth crime in urban areas of Britain which makes sense as a form of
shorthand within the accepted norms of the newspaper” [12]
The way the Daily Mirror described the youths
on the 13th of august 2011 was very extreme ; “Anarchy in the UK –
Teenage wasteland, with their hoodies and bandanas no longer hiding their
faces, the thugs who left us in the grip of anarchy”. The use of the words
‘Teenage Wasteland’ is very interesting because it is basically trying to
explain that the teenagers in the UK are so evil that they have caused the UK
to become a wasteland. In addition, there was the use of one image in
particular which was of a young man wearing an Adidas hoodie, this image
reinforced the stereotypes on British youths which believes that young people
are chavs, negative and violent people, and this image also looks very dark to
the audience which creates a sense of fear.
Many people would argue that the
representations of the British youth were very inaccurate during the London
riots. An interesting statistic from the youth media agency was “76% of
reporting of young people is negative and only 12% of crime in general is
committed by young people”[13],
this is quite shocking because it shows how much the British youth have been
targeted and misrepresented by the Media. Another interesting quote was “An
estimated 15,000 people were involved in the riots; about one-quarter were aged
under 18”[14] It’s
quite interesting when you look at the statistics because it actually
contradicts what the British media is trying to explain.
A question that many people ask is ‘what
caused the riots’ and this is a debatable question because there are multiple
reasons for what may have triggered the riots. For example, you could consider
the unemployment rates amongst the youth in London. “The unemployment rate
between 16-24 year olds during 2011 rose up to 991,000 which was more than
double the rate for the UK.”[15]
Since unemployment rates are continuing to increase, young people are
struggling to get jobs in order to pay for essentials they may need, this could
be a factor which caused quite a few people to part take in the riots, this is
because research showed that there was a direct correlation between the amount
of people behind on bills and the crime rate in London. Another factor was
police harassment. The British police have been facing criticism for targeting
young people. There were complaints about police over using their power to stop
and search members of the public. A twenty year old man from Clapham was
interviewed by the guardian and he was asked what he thought about the reasons
behind the London riots, his response was; “I’m angry and frustrated. I feel
the same as them. Angry with everything – society, police, the way the treat
us. They don’t treat us like human beings. I’ve been stopped and searched and
I’ve refused to give my details.” [16]From
this we get an understanding of what some of the youth in London have to go
through when facing the Police and many people have come to the belief that
this is the fuel for the London riots. “Youth unemployment are signs of
increasing crime, relationships between communities and the police and the use
of stop and search”[17]
On the other hand, it’s quite
interesting when you compare the difference between broadsheet newspapers
coverage in comparison to a tabloids. For example, the guardians who are a broadsheet newspaper reported the day after
the riots. They titled the article saying "Blame the police; "why the
rioters say they took part". [18]During
the London riots a lot of people didn’t understand the reason why all these
youths had so much anger, there was the belief that the riots were just because
of the police assassination of Mark Duggan, however a lot of other people who
rioted had their own reasons such as; Previous police harassment, government
not supporting the lower class and the misrepresentations of society. The media language shows
that this newspaper isn’t going directly at the youth but it is showing that
they are showing both sides of the story. This is mainly targeted at the ABC1 audience which are
people who probably wouldn’t have any links to the youth and they won’t
understand what they go through. There was an interview with Kenneth Clark who
is the justice secretary and he made a comment saying “Britain had cultivated a
‘lost generation’ of young people”[19] This represents the youth
to be protesters rather than rioters because this newspaper is probably trying
to communicate that there is a reason behind them protesting rather than doing
it just to loot. Next, they have also included quotes from the youths who
participated in the riots and in these quotes they show a lot of anger towards
the police. The guardian didn’t use any images of anyone involved in the riots
which was interesting.
In comparison, the Daily Mail who
are tabloid newspaper which is completely
different to the broadsheet one. This can be seen immediately from the use of
images. in the picture you can see a British youth who is represented to be a
villain to society, this is because in the image we can see the youth who is
wearing a hooded tracksuit and covering his face, and behind him there is a
large fire which looks like it came from a car explosion, from the first look
at this image we get a an understanding that they are trying to create a sense
of fear for the audience. Next, the title says "The anarchy spreads" [20]this
word means a state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of
authority or other controlling systems. In addition, there was a also a quote
on the front page saying "To blame the cuts is immoral and cynical. This
is immoral criminality pure and simple" [21]this
quote is basically expressing that the rioters are pure criminals and are
rioting for no logical reason whereas the guardian talks about both sides and
also speaks from the rioters perspective. This image reinforces the popular
stereotype which believes that young British males are chavs, negative and
violent people. This can be linked to Medhurst theory of stereotypes which
believes that we label a group of people as a shorthand to describe them. This
image also looks very dark to the audience which makes them get the
understanding that these youths are uncontrollable. Also, the fire in the image
shows that these youths are creating hell. In conclusion, this shows the difference on how
a broadsheet delivers news and a tabloid paper delivers news.
This isn’t
the first riots that have happened in London; in 1981 there was a riot which
took placed in Brixton, London. This was a major dispute between the local
members of the public and the police. This eventually resulted in approximately
280 injuries to police and 45 injuries to members of the public. There was also
mass damage to police vehicles and buildings. Reports suggested approximately
5,000 people were involved.
If we
compare how the news was reported back in 1981 in comparison now, we are easily
able to see the difference. For example, The sun reported a day after the
Brixton riots and the title
of the paper said "To think this is England" this shows us that the
paper then blamed the whole country for these events all though it was only a
small part of the country that took part. Also, they didn't target a specific
minority when they were talking about who was involved. This newspaper also
promotes the fact that England was going through and moral panic and that they
were all together. On the other hand, the second paper from the 2011 riots
is completely different to the first paper. This is automatically visible from
the title which says "Flaming morons" this shows us that they are
directly targeting a group of people who were involved, in addition, the use of
image is also quite extreme as they have an image of a burning car in the
background of a youth in a hooded jumper. This shows us how much society’s
morals have change as back in 1981 if something happened in the UK the media
would blame themselves as a whole whereas now the media is attacking certain
groups of different people (Mainly Minorities). Also, there is a quote which
says "Thugs and thieves terrorise Britain's streets"[22] this shows us that the
media are portraying the youth to be the only victims as they didn't focus on
the reasons behind it. The media also try to make the people who participated
in the riots to not be part of the British society as they may be ashamed of
what's happened.
In conclusion, it is hard not to come to the
conclusion that the British news media did not provide a fair and accurate
representation of the youth during the London riots. During the coverage of the
2011 London riots there wasn’t enough about the wider context into what may
have caused the riots. "According
to David Cameron, the English 'rioter' and 'looter' are of the same breed;
namely of the feral underclass type. These people, as Cameron would have it,
are foreign to the hard-working, regular citizen and it is through poor life
choices and like of meritocratic initiative that they find themselves clinging
to the margin of society."[23] There are many problems within England which
may have led to the riots, for example, there are still children living in
poverty without the government doing much to help them. “More than half of the
city’s children live in poverty” [24].
Work Cited
Internet links/Journals
The battle for London – The guardian 2011
http://www.theguardian.com/media/gallery/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-front-pages-in-pictures
Youth Crime:
Representations, Discourses and Data -
http://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upmbinaries/65884_Youth_Crime__Representations,_Discourses_and_Data.pdf
There’s a riot going on
https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16831
There’s a riot going
on
'Hoodies, louts,
scum': how media demonises teenagers
UK Youth
http://www.ukyouth.org/resources/youth-statistics/item/379-young_people_in_the_media#.Vh5eHvlViko
Youth & Crime
UK unemployment
figures paint bleak picture(BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15262235
London riots: young
people voice their frustrations
Blame the police: why the rioters say they took part
(The guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/dec/05/anger-police-fuelled-riots-study
Daily Mail
Daily Mail (The
anarchy Spreads)
Academic
books
Briggs, D. (2012). The English riots of
2011 a summer of discontent. Hook, UK: Waterside Press.
Conboy, M. (2007). The language
of the news. London: Routledge
London riots 2011. (2013). Place of publication not
identified: Grin Verlag.
Briggs,
D. (2012). The English riots of 2011 a summer of discontent. Hook,
UK: Waterside Press.
Jones, O. (2011). Chavs: The
demonization of the working class. London: Verso.
Bloom, C. (2012). Riot city:
Protest and rebellion in the capital. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Work Consulted
Internet Links
London riots: social media helped
gangs orchestrate the looting, says MP
Blame games: putting
the London riots on stage http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/aug/05/chalk-farm-edinburgh-london-riots
English riots were 'a
sort of revenge' against the police http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/dec/05/riots-revenge-against-police
The UK riots: the
psychology of looting http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/09/uk-riots-psychology-of-looting
A mathematical model
of the London riots and their policing http://www.nature.com/articles/srep01303?WT.ec_id=SREP-20130226
“The quarrel is between our masters and us their men”: Romeo and
Juliet,Dearth, and the London Riots
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-6757.2000.tb01168.x/abstract
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-6757.2000.tb01168.x/abstract
TARGET CHOICE
DURING EXTREME EVENTS: A DISCRETE SPATIAL CHOICE MODEL OF THE 2011 LONDON RIOTS
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9125.12004/pdf
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1745-9125.12004/pdf
Hashtag Lifespan and Social Networks during the
London Riots http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275112000315
Who were the rioters?
Young
people voice their anger
http;//www.theguardian.com/society/2011/aug/16/London-riots-young-people-voice-anger
England rioters
'poorer, younger, less educated
Why did so many
youths riot in London?
Representation of
Youth
http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/ocr-a2-media-studies-g325-section-b-collective-identity-youth/
There’s a riot going
on
https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16831
Unbalanced negative
media portrayal of youth
https://www.hertsmere.gov.uk/Documents/08-Parks--Leisure/Children--Young-People/Final-Report---Unbalanced-negative-media-portrayal-of-youth.pdf
London riots: the
underclass lashes out
Academic books
Bloom, C. (2012). Riot city:
Protest and rebellion in the capital. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Briggs, D. (2012). The
English riots of 2011 a summer of discontent. Hook, UK: Waterside Press.
Clark, C. (2008). Media
portrayal of young people impact and influences. Place of publication not
identified: National Children's Bureau.
Conboy, M. (2007). The
language of the news. London: Routledge.
Cottle, S. (2006). Mediatized conflict
developments in media and conflict studies. Maidenhead, Berkshire, England:
Open University Press.
Haywood, I. (2012). The
Gordon riots: Politics, culture and insurrection in late eighteenth-century
Britain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Jones, O. (n.d.). The
establishment: And how they get away with it
Jones, O. (2011). Chavs: The
demonization of the working class. London: Verso.
Negrine, R. (2007). The
political communication reader. London: Routledge.
Cohen . S (2011) Folk Devils and Moral
Panics
2,723 WORDS
[1]
The Gaurdian - 2011
[2]
Youth Crime: Representations,
Discourses and Data -
John Muncie – 2011 – PG 3
[3] (2011) Folk Devils
and Moral Panics
[4]
The English Riots of 2011 a summer of Discontent
[5] There’s a riot going on - MediaMagazine
38, December 2011
[6] ibid
[7] 'Hoodies, louts, scum'
[8]
ibid
[9]
ibid
[10]
ibid
[11]
There’s a riots going on - MediaMagazine
38, December 2011
[12] Conboy,
M. (2007). Pg 63
[13]
UK Youth article 2013
[14] Youth
Crime: Representations,
Discourses and Data -
John Muncie – 2011 – page 4
[15]
UK unemployment figures paint bleak picture (BBC) - 2011
[16]
London riots: young people voice their frustrations – The guardian (2011)
[17] Bloom, C. (2012).
[18] Blame
the police: why the rioters say they took part (The guardian) – (2011)
[19]
London Riots 2011 – Pg 45
[20] Daily Mail – (2011)
[21] Daily Mail (The anarchy
Spreads) – (2011)
[22]
Daily Star (2011)
[23] Briggs, D. (2012).
[24] Jones, O. (2011).
