Examining The Roles Of Moral Entrepreneurs Media Essay

Examining The Roles Of Moral Entrepreneurs Media Essay on that point be plastered powerful woodpeckers much(prenominal) as lesson entrepreneurs and/or social rule agents that atomic number 18 said to contribute to the development of clean- financial backing panics in a troupe (Becker, 1963147 Cohen, 198085). This essay willing consider that bountifulness as a news economic value appears to be the major tool finished which honourable panics ar developed in a night club (Cohen, 198031). The essay will commence with a apprise background and definition of key terms such as news determine, amplitude and lesson panics, non necessarily in the same sequence. Then using relevant research sources, this essay will canvass the role that the news value of amplitude plays in the development of moral panics. Furthermore, the reasons for this kind of journalism will be considered by carefully analysing the issues of interest and morality. Finally, the essay will consider the ef fects of moral panics on society by looking into instances in different societies.Ben-Yehuda (20091) describes the concept of moral panic as creating a state of exagge prescribed fear from topics that are claimed to adjudge a moral element. He states that moral panics take on to take, focus on and sustain powerfully persuasive images of folk devils that can serve as the marrow of moral fears. According to Ben-Yehuda and Goode (199412), the idea of moral panics developed from the earlier concept of moral crusades where a some integrity or a group of persons where stigmatised as unnaturals and isolated from what was regarded as traffic pattern society. It was maiden revea lead by athletic supporter boylike in 1971 as opposed to the thought that Stanley Cohen was the originator of the concept. Critcher (2006 ix) also concurs that Cohen borrowed the term from Young. However, though Young introduced the term, it was Cohens research on the Mods and Rockers that launched it to it s present state as a still central tool of sociological and media analysis, as well as a common phrase in popular confabulation (Ben-Yehuda, 20091). Cohen defines moral panic in his book Folk Devils and Moral Panics The Creation of Mods and Rockers (19809), as when a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become outlined as a nemesis to societal values and interests its nature is presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion by the mass media This shows that e truly society has cross moral values and interests that define it as a society. Hence, it will not be normal for a person or group of persons to go against those moral values and interests. Becker (19631) states that social rules are make to be enforced and they determine what is right or wrong in a social group. and so the person or group of persons who breaks those rules is regarded as an outsider because such cannot be trusted to live by the rules. The outsider is then tagged by that society as a deviant or a folk devil as Cohen calls it. The outsider is isolated from normal society and this headliners to more deviance (Cohen, 198012 18). Goode (199393) also defines moral panic as a widespread feeling on the part of the humans that something is terribly wrong in the society because of the moral failure of a specific group of individuals, subpopulation is defined as the enemy. In short, a category of battalion has been deviantized. Deviance refers to behaviour that breaks social values or upsets the expectations of society on that pointby cajoleing social penalty or punishment (OSullivan, et al., 1994 83 Aggleton, 19874). Some examples of deviant behaviours that lead to moral panics are related to medicate usage, homosexuality, gang activities, pornography, prostitution, and so on (Ben-Yehuda, 20092 Cohen, 198018). Cohen (19809 59) observes that a type of moral panic which has kept occurring in Britain since the war has been tied to the coming up of a variety of youth culture who are either working class, middle class or students and are seen as deviants associated with emphasis. The Teddy Boys, the Mods and Rockers, the Skinheads, are some examples he gives of those labelled deviants or folk devils that represented youths at the time. This is also reflected in Ben-Yehudas study of the 1982 drug panic in Israel where youths were identified with the deviant behaviour of extramarital drug-taking.Those who create and enforce the rules in society respectively referred to as moral entrepreneurs by Becker (1963 147) and social control agents by Cohen (1980 85). These are powerful concepts that are said to contribute to the development of moral panics in a society. They comprise the Police, the Courts and Civil Society or Action Groups who take appropriate action at the federal official and Local levels. Here the media also plays a vital positive role in checking the excesses of these so-called deviants. As we all know, the media is a tool through wh ich discipline is administer to the frequent. The way and manner information is dispensed determines how the public reacts to such information. There are certain criteria that determine what news is and it varies from unrivaled culture to the some other (Galtung and Ruge, 1965 65). The criteria or guidelines by which slips are regarded as newsworthy are referred to as news values (Brighton and Foy, 20071). Galtung and Ruge (1965 70) interpret a list of a number of factors that qualify for news values. An shell must possess at least one of these to qualify as news. One of such news values is amplitude on which this essay will focus. Amplitude refers to how big the event is The bigger, the better, the more prominent, the more likely the event is to achievethreshold value (Watson, 1998 118). It is argued here that amplitude as a news value appears to be the major tool through which moral panics are developed in a society (Cohen, 1980 31).It was stated earlier that moral entrep reneurs or social control agents are powerful tools that are said to contribute to the development of moral panics. Cohen (1980 166) and Becker (1963 147) have argued that these tools create and enforce rules in order to control deviant behaviours. They intervene whenever they feel a particular value in society is being threatened by behaviours that are out of the norm. This shows that a deviant behaviour can be powerful enough as to instigate basis and the enactment of laws in a society (Ben-Yehuda, 1990 124). However, it is important to note that these agents cannot function alone to create moral panics in the society, they deficiency the mass media to be able to pass across what they deem as morally wrong or evil so, they take advantage of the media to be able to create a moral panic (Ben-Yehuda, 1990 116). It then seems that without the media, moral panics may never occur and amplitude plays a major role in such a development. Cohen (198016) describes the media as an especia lly important carrier and producer of moral panics. He states that information that gets to the public have already been processed by the media, that is to say that they have been subject to classifications of newsworthiness and how they are to be relayed to the audience. He argues that what is usually called news focuses on reports on deviance and its consequences and such reports create concerns, anxiety, indignation or panic. When these feelings have been created, the need to cherish certain moral values arises and this leads to the definition of the problem and the creation of rules to protect societal values. All that has been said boils down to the fact that for the media to cover an event successfully as news, amplitude (as a news value) plays a very important role. As earlier defined, amplitude refers to how big and dramatic the event is (Watson, 1998 118 Galtung and Ruge, 1965 66) so the need for amplitude leads the media to amplify deviance whereby exaggerating the event s o it becomes a very big issue through the reaction of the audience. OSullivan, et al. (199410-11) define amplification as the process whereby initial activity, labelled as deviant is increased or amplified as a offspring of social reaction which is more often than not co-ordinated and articulated by the mass media.Furthermore, Galtung and Ruge (1965 71) state that there are three things the media does to manufacture news and one of them is accentuation or distortion and that is to make the event even more noticeable. Cohen (1980 31) gives examples of this kind of distortion or exaggeration. In describing the Mods and Rockers event at Clacton, he states that a journalist from the Daily Mirror admitted that the event had been over reported. Cohen describes how the media grossly exaggerated its seriousnessOver-reportingthe number taking part, the number involved in violence and the amount and effects of any damage or violence. Such distortion took place primarily in terms of the mode and style of presentation characteristic of most crime reporting the sensational headlines, histrionic vocabulary and heightening of those elements in the story considered as news. The regular use of phrases such as riot, riot of destruction, battle, attack, beat up townsfolk and screaming mob left an image of a besieged town from which innocent holidaymakers were fleeing to escape a marauding mob.This event was so exaggerated that the police began making preparations for the beside anticipated Bank Holiday hooliganism. On the next Bank Holiday at Brighton, so numerous suspicious youths, though not guilty of all that they were accused of, were arrested on the beach escalating the matter and confirmatory the doubts and fears of the public who acted and took their local problem to the legislature ( Cohen, 198091-113). Another instance of such exaggeration is form in the 1982 drug daunt event in Israel. Ben-Yehuda (1990103) argues that the media played a crucial role by providi ng information that stimulated the panic. He states that youths in high schools in Israel were accused by the police and a atom of legislature of the misuse of psychoactive drugs. It appeared in the media that over a hundred thousand students used hashish. A particular school was labelled Hashish High School because it was accused of a high rate of unlawful drug use. The principal revealed statistics showing only one pupil in the school was found using drugs but the release of the statistics did not help because the panic had already been created. The Ministry of Education sought for produce from the police for the outrageous statistics they released to the media but none was given. Anxious parents parents demanded that the Ministry of Education do something about the terrible drug problem. Most parents eventually withdrew their children from schools as a result of such exaggerations, turning the event into a capacious story. The media used such headlines as youth drug abuse plag ue, How to Behave with a Drug Abusing Adolescent, The Dangers of Hashish. This event shows how active the social control agents and the media were in the development of moral panic but the media seemed to be the major tool through which moral panic began.The connection amid personal and group interests to moral panics has been espoused by (Ben-Yehuda, 1990 114 Becker, 1963148 Goode and Ben-Yehuda, 1994 159). Ben-Yehuda (1990114) suggests that on one hand, moral panics reflect the moral struggle in a society and on the other hand, the issue of interests show that moral panics use moral topics to cover up clash of interests between different parties. He argues that the moral panic in Israel in 1982 was based on distorted information, all the way aimed at sharply marking the boundaries between moral right and moral wrong. However, behind the public queer about morality, there were other unwavering interests at work as well. This shows that just as there are moral entrepreneurs who seek to truly uphold moral values for the good of the society, there are also those entrepreneurs who seek to fulfil their own interests. Young (2009 10) states that there are three reasons for moral intervention. The first is the conflict of interest where he explains that interests of a powerful group are directly threatened or the group sees that the intervention would be to its advantage. The second reason for intervention is moral indignation. He explains that the deviant threatens the moral values of a more powerful group therefore an intervention is required. Finally, the third reason is humanism where the more powerful group intervenes for the good of the deviant(s). This goes further to reveal a powerful economic and political relationship between those in power and those regarded as outsiders because laws, wealth and status could be created as a result of moral panics (Goode and Ben-Yehuda, 1994 159). For instance, the legislator could create laws and have his political st atus established as a result of a moral panic through the media and the police could gain more funds to aid in fighting deviance. Furthermore, the media is responsible to protect the public interest through the proper spreading of information. The public should be aware of events that affect them through the news. News that stirs up moral panics does not seem to be in the public interest because the end result is fear and anxiety (Ben-Yehuda, 2009 1). It then seems that the media may only be interested in its business competition through the selling of a breaking story to attract more viewership and not minding how the news is presented thereby fulfilling its own interest. It could also be that the media in creating a moral panic is not aware that it is doing so and may publish or broadcast news in the public interest since its duty is to create awareness of issues prevalent in the society.Moral panics have certain effects on the society. They create stereotypes, for instance, (You ng, 20096) thereby segregating a particular class or group of people within society. A stereotype is a social classification of a group based on a particular set of values, judgments and assumptions toward the groups behaviour, characteristics or history (OSullivan, et al., 1994299). The Mods and Rockers were stereotyped because they behaved and did things differently from the rest of the society at the time. They dressed differently, rode scooters and motor-bikes and they were two confrontational groups. As a result they were seen as a threat to traditional, decent values of law and order (Critcher, 2006 xii). According to Cohen (198062) the Mods and Rockers were seen as a disease that mandatory to be cured or completely removed from society therefore they experienced indignation. A look revealed that the medias reaction to the Mods and Rockers were more intense and stereotypical than the opinion of the public (Cohen, 1980 66). In addition, moral panics create fear, anxiety and pa nic among members of society. Statistics show that fear is created especially among older people (Cohen 198070). For instance, as mentioned earlier, during the 1982 drug scare in Israel, parents out of fear and anxiety about the terrible drug problem that had invaded high schools, withdrew their children from school. The sieve of presentation and language used by the media may cause its audience to think they are living in a very unsafe environment while that may not be on the whole true. Also, moral panics could help establish new laws claimed to guard the moral values and interests of the society and even if it does not do so, it leaves memories that usher in the next panic (Ben-Yehuda, 2009 3). For instance, early 1970 in America, President Nixon successfully carried out a war on drugs that later paved the way for subsequent drug panic that led to the creation of laws against illicit drug taking in America in 1986 and 1989 (Goode and Ben-Yehuda, 1994169). All these prove that m oral panics could either have a lasting or a short term effect on a society. The effect could be felt at the time of the panic and eventually fade outside with the panic as it was with the Mods and Rockers or the effect could be a long lasting one as in the case of laws made to prohibit illicit drug use.In conclusion, although other strong tools such as the moral entrepreneurs or the social control agents contribute in creating moral panics, it is force out that amplitude as a news value is a major tool used by the media to create moral panics in the society. This essay has also shown that there are certain reasons why moral panics occur and those reasons could either be moral or for personal interests. Furthermore, there is a preponderance of the sunburned effects of moral panics in the society including the creation of stereotypes, the instigation of fear among people and possibly the creation of new unnecessary laws.Practitioners in journalism and media must be careful in the r eporting and dissemination of information to the general public to avoid impressing their personal or group interests on society that they may have detrimental effects in the peaceful order of society.WORD COUNT 2,824