#task 2

Malik, Sarita. Representing black Britain: black and Asian images on television. London: SAGE, 2001. Print.

Page 10: “Radicalized difference is a key feature of British race relations and has been aptly borne”

The British media are able to show racial differences now because of how often the typical stereotypes have been shown over a long period of time, whether it’d be in a soap, comedy, films, the news etc. The audience is so used to it and takes it in that it seems normal to them and when they go out into reality they take on those beliefs as their own. This is an example of cultivation theory where the effects of TV over a long period of time affect people’s belief in reality. Any media program would use stereotypes for different reason like for example, so it’s easy for the audience to identify and feel comfortable with (uses and gratification). Or to convey a certain message e.g. all black people are inferior to white people or maybe just for comedy, it depends on what genre we’re looking at.

Marsh, Ian, and Gaynor Melville. Crime, justice and the media. London: Routledge, 2009. Print.

Page 1: “Dorfman (2001) found that over three-quarters (76%) of the public said they formed their opinions about crime from what they see or read in the news, more than three times the number of those who said they got their primary information on crime from personal experience (22%).”

An amazing bit of statistics that show just how much the media influences the public’s views. Dorfman (2001) carried out research finding that over three quarters of people get their opinions from the news this puts forward the idea of hegemony suggested by Karl Marx but then furthered by Gramsci. Gramsci understood that the media teaches people to do things voluntarily to upkeep supremacy in authority and in this context the media ‘teaches’ the dominant view on crime, which people then cooperate with by also taking on this view hence proving Dorman’s study. But then it isn’t clear if the view on crime is specifically targeted at young people or at others and the youth today are represented positively. As mentioned in Bill Osgerby’s ‘Youth Media’ “Positive media representation of youth did not disappear, but there was a palpable resurgence of more negative coverage” so the view on crime that some people take from the media could be positive for young teens.

Osgerby, Bill. Youth media. London: Routledge, 2004. Print.

Page 1: “They are shopping for themselves, spending for all they are worth… Some of us may wonder how they get the energy, other how do they get the money.”

Because of the media stereotyping the readers would already know the answer to which the author, Bill Osgerby is implying because of the stereotypes given to the youth. “Spending for all they’re worth” so teens don’t think ahead about their future, only interested in immediate gratification. For that reason this suggests they spend without thinking and act irrational. Also indicating how immature and irresponsible they can be by living and spending for today, living fatalistically. Since the media has an impact on the public minds and influences our view, the institution can manipulate and gate-keep the information given to us “Positive media representation of youth did not disappear, but there was a palpable resurgence of more negative coverage” (Youth Media By Bill Osgerby). The media over- represents the negative stories so that it over shadows any positive coverage, creating a corrupt, damaged generation.

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      Th   The way the media demonises the youth has left an imprint on today’s society as being ill-mannered, violent and being associated with drugs, sex and gangs. Hoodies, joggers, baseball caps, oversized shirts are a part or the iconography of the stereotyped teens. 

      “In the public’s mind, a few juveniles hanging out together on a street corner elicits the image of delinquent gang. While these juveniles may not belong to any formal gang, it is the appearance that decides a person’s view.”

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Page 1: “They are shopping for themselves, spending for all they are worth… Some of us may wonder how they get the energy, other how do they get the money.”a

Because of the media stereotyping the readers would already know the answer to which the author, Bill Osgerby is implying because of the stereotypes given to the youth. “Spending for all they’re worth” so teens don’t think ahead about their future, only interested in immediate gratification. For that reason this suggests they spend without thinking and act irrational. Also indicating how immature and irresponsible they can be by living and spending for today, living fatalistically. Since the media has an impact on the public minds and influences our view, the institution can manipulate and gate-keep the information given to us “Positive media representation of youth did not disappear, but there was a palpable resurgence of more negative coverage” (Youth Media By Bill Osgerby). The media over- represents the negative stories so that it over shadows any positive coverage, creating a corrupt, damaged generation.

Paludi, Michele Antoinette. The psychology of teen violence and victimization. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger, 2011. Print.

"Teenage victims are not often afforded the same resources as adult…   and are not tailored to the unique psychology of teens, who are often marginalized in our society.”

The mind of a teen is very different to the mind of an adult, for example adults can be more mature about decisions made and also can resolve things better, so to have resources for abuse only tailored to adult victims is just strengthening that gap between teenagers and adults. Furthermore the abuse to teenagers isn’t emphasized as much as teenagers abusing others to reinforce that negative stereotype, the media stories go through a gatekeeper who determines what’s shown and what’s kept from the public eye. So the image the media institutions are trying to portray can be an example of the ‘Hypodermic needle theory’ which is the idea of the media injecting messages straight into the ‘passive audience’ who then instantly gets influenced and cannot break away.

Regoli, Robert M., and John D. Hewitt. Delinquency in society. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997. Print.

Page 22: “In the public’s mind, a few juveniles hanging out together on a street corner elicits the image of delinquent gang. While these juveniles may not belong to any formal gang.”

The way the media demonises the youth has left an imprint on today’s society as being ill-mannered, violent and being associated with drugs, sex and gangs. Hoodies, joggers, baseball caps, oversized shirts are a part or the iconography of the stereotyped teens. The media reports certainly do amplify stories to do with the youth like in recent events such as the protests and riots; it was all that was shown on all news channels. Where’s the success of teenagers? Their academic success? Achievements? So this quote points out that even though the group of young teens are hanging out on the street corner doesn’t mean they’re a part of a juvenile group looking for trouble, they could just be there for social reasons. But because of the stereotypes that they have been labelled and it is the appearance that decides a person’s view, the group is automatically feared which is unfair on their part, everyone knows the saying; don’t judge a book by its cover so why does today’s society still carry on doing it? The media plays a huge role on reinforcing these qualities in the youth creating what Stanley Cohen (1987) calls moral panic; a sudden increase in public perception of the possible threat to societal values and interests because of exposure to media texts. So that the general public fear young adults who probably have no violent motives due to the media amplifying the misconception of folk devils (deviant outsiders). Nevertheless there is a corrupt subculture that rejects society’s norms and value that overshadows the success of adolescents, their counter-stereotype of being hard working and well-mannered and that they focus on differed gratification.

Shaw, Sandra M. I.. Parents, children, young people and the state. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press, 2010. Print.

Page 91: “Young people could be judged on ‘what they might do’ rather than what they actually do”

Because of the picture the media has painted for teenagers, the audience are shown this constant message that all teenagers are going to be deviant; it’s just a matter of when. This approach to young people is unfair to the ones being accused and to others. For innocent teenagers who behave and have no immoral motivations are automatically being feared on the basis of what their stereotype might do or say. Because of these people being feared and are anticipated to do bad might just fulfil this prophecy and commit crime anyway because its expected from them. Other people who are older than them or fear them would be influenced because of the label of youths and would change their everyday lives; for instance not going down a certain road because there are a group of teens or not going inside a shop because a group of youths went in. These groups of teenagers may not have the intention to cause any disruptions and yet people will still go out their way just not to encounter them. But on the other hand if we judged everyone on what they ‘might do’ rather than what they actually do then where would we all stand? In fear of everyone.

Folk Devils and Moral Panics: 30th Anniversary Edition by Stanley Cohen 1980 page 26.

“What had happened was inevitably going to happen again”

With the constant coverage of the story, the media made it look like that these sorts of events were going to reoccur again because of the statement “what had happened was inevitably going to happen again” but this was only just an assumption however because the media kept on putting emphasis on the reports and raising the question of ‘what should be done next time?’ this assured the audience that this disaster would happen again. So by combining that message along with the attention of the violence shown to the public would have resulted in the audience panicking where delinquents would “strike next”.