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Role of Media in Creation of Contemporary Moral Panic

   

Added on  2021-06-17

10 Pages2774 Words36 Views
MusicPolitical Science
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Communication studies 1
Role of Media in Creation of Contemporary Moral Panic_1

ContentsIntroduction......................................................................................................................................3Role of media in creation of contemporary moral panic.................................................................3Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7References........................................................................................................................................82
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IntroductionMoral panic is a term used to mean a sense of fear or worry in the society regarding some evilthreats to its wellbeing[ CITATION Goo10 \l 1033 ]. According to the dictionary of sociology,moral panic is generally an act of moral entrepreneurs or mass media which arouses excessiveconcern of the society over an issue[ CITATION CTI11 \l 1033 ]. Mass media is a term used forvaried communication technologies which can be used to reach a large number ofaudiences[ CITATION How13 \l 1033 ]. Mass media involves broadcast media like televisionand radio; print media like newspapers and digital media like social media and online portals.Role of media in creation of contemporary moral panicMass media has great reach and appeal for a large number of people[ CITATION Frl18 \l 1033 ].Any news can spread from one end of the globe to another in a few minutes through mass media[CITATION Knu14 \l 1033 ]. Therefore, it is extremely influential force which affects humanthinking, judgement, emotions and sense of fear and wellbeing.The concept of moral panic was first propounded by criminologist and thinker, Stanley Cohan inhis book in 1972 namely folk devils and moral panic[CITATION Coh11 \l 1033 ]. Cohenobserved in his book that due to its reach and influence, media has the power and the ability tolabel a certain group or people as folk devils[ CITATION Coh11 \l 1033 ]. Folk devils arepeople or groups labelled by media as deviant[ CITATION Pet13 \l 1033 ]. These people areconsidered as a threat to social values and are depicted by media as clear villains of socialorder[ CITATION Pik11 \l 1033 ]. These folk devils are then blamed by the media for societalproblems or are exaggeratedly shown as a threat to the society’s value system.Media may continuously target this group in a negative way and report the scale of the problemin an exaggerated manner[ CITATION Coh11 \l 1033 ]. This can stimulate hatred, worry, fearand anxiety in the society against a certain group or person. For example, a certain ethnicity or arace may be considered deviant by a political group. The media may pick this up and report it ina way that this ethnic group sounds like a clear villain[ CITATION ONe12 \l 1033 ]. This groupmay or may not be a threat to the society. Furthermore, the scale of the threat may not be as largeas reported. This leads to false implication of people who may just have a different outlook.3
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