The role of media representation of knife crime in London in creating moral panic among UK citizens attacks that took place in Manchester and London, to the UK's decision to leave the European Union and to the consequences and challenges the country will face when we leave. The UK is well known for its tourist attractions, including London, Manchester, Birmingham and the Lake District, to name a few. However; Since January 2018 there has been a re-emergence of gang and knife crime culture in the UK, which has seen an increase in the number of cases, particularly in London, reported not only to the police but in the media. Being from the UK I love visiting London for work or as a tourist wanting to explore its history, for me personally it is scary to see news reports of knife crime taking place. For my part, I will not let the fear of what is happening stop me from visiting, but in the future I will be more attentive to my surroundings. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Research Question The problem of knife crime in the UK is not a new problem that emerged in 2018, it has existed for many years before that. However; media representation of the issue has been raised and highlighted more in recent years and with this in mind, my research question aims to explore the issue further. How does the media portrayal of knife crime in London create moral panic among UK citizens? Theory For this research, theories such as Stanley Cohen's (1972) Folk Devils and Moral Panic Theory and Howard Becker's (1963) labeling theory can be used to evaluate and explain how the media reports the London stabbings and reactions of the British public in response to these attacks. Ulrich Beck's (1996) risk society theory will be used briefly to ascertain what risk society means in relation to this research question and in this case the risk society will be people who commit knife crimes and the media who report the problem. Phenomenon Risk Information and Media Portrayals Knife crime as a topic is very difficult to explore as there is no clear classification to describe it, making it difficult to define which crime falls into the knife crime category. This can be demonstrated by Eades et al (2007:9) in their book on 'Knife Crime', a review of evidence and policy, which states that "knife crime potentially encompasses a very wide range of crimes and therefore causes problems both in defining and determining its prevalence." They further go on to argue that much of the reporting of knife crime by politicians and the media is misleading to the public due to unreliable information and a failure to present the "facts accurately." As mentioned in my introduction, knife crime is not a new phenomenon in the UK and particularly in London, it has been widespread for over a decade and beyond of the UK to investigate knife and firearm crime, shows that over four years, from 2013 to 2017, police data relating to knife crime increased by 39%. However; since January 2018 we have seen an increase in cases of knife crimereported to the police and the media. Figures in a report from the Office for National Statistics show there was an increase in reported cases from March 2017 to March 2018 and that violence involving weapons such as a knife increased by 40,127 compared to March 2016-17. However, one criticism of the report is that it does not provide information on the race, ethnicity or age of the offender. According to Hall (1981), “the media help to 'integrate' society, we must understand simply that they maximize knowledge and contact between different and diverse groups in society”. An example of this would be if the UK government had important news to communicate to the public, they would use the media to distribute it. Another way the media can influence the public is through the language they use not only in the body of their article. but also as the title of their article. The Telegraph (2018) begins its article with the headline “Child stabbings rise by 63% amid disturbing trend of younger victims of knife crime”. Another article from the Guardian (2018) begins with “Streets of Fear” or again from the Guardian (2018) “Knife crime is an epidemic. Do we care enough to look for a cure? boys, 15 years old, left in hospital with stab wounds." All of these newspaper articles begin with punchy, bold headlines that stand out and are the first thing that is sure to capture the imagination of readers. However, it is not just the headlines that spark people's imagination, it is also the language and images used in the articles that further cause panic in society. Knife crime is currently a big problem in the UK; however, most of the media articles provided appear to only depict attacks that occurred in London. This means we are not getting a true picture of how big the knife crime problems are in the UK. In this research paper, the at-risk society affected by knife crime is the public and the streets around where the knife crime occurred. Beck (2002:631) World Risk Theory argues that “risk intrinsically contains the concept of control” and “presupposes decision making”. If we link this to knife crime we can see that people who commit knives have control and power. They used their decision-making skills to weigh the risks, pros and cons of committing these attacks against others and continued with their crimes. Cohen's (1972) theory of moral panic and folk devil states: “Societies appear to be subject, from time to time, to periods of moral panic.” Cohen further goes on to say that if a person; or a group of people, the condition is seen in such a way that it poses a threat to society, it is natural for the media to inform the public in a way that suits politicians and elites. If you relate moral panic and popular devil theory to the media presentation of knife crime areas as risky societies, it is easy to see why people might choose to stay away due to the fear that has been created. it can happen to them and then it can happen to me, or it could be a child who has been killed in a crime with a knife, so to keep him safe they keep him in the house. Becker's (1962) labeling theory argues that it can be used to describe the city itself in this research, newspapers describe London as streets of fear, a London bloodbath or an epidemic. This could convince local visitors and tourists not to visit some streets in London for fear of being attacked later, this could damage people's businesses and impact.

Topic > The role of media representation of knife crime in London in creating moral panic among UK citizens attacks that took place in Manchester and London, to the UK's decision to leave the European Union and to the consequences and challenges the country will face when we leave. The UK is well known for its tourist attractions, including London, Manchester, Birmingham and the Lake District, to name a few. However; Since January 2018 there has been a re-emergence of gang and knife crime culture in the UK, which has seen an increase in the number of cases, particularly in London, reported not only to the police but in the media. Being from the UK I love visiting London for work or as a tourist wanting to explore its history, for me personally it is scary to see news reports of knife crime taking place. For my part, I will not let the fear of what is happening stop me from visiting, but in the future I will be more attentive to my surroundings. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Research Question The problem of knife crime in the UK is not a new problem that emerged in 2018, it has existed for many years before that. However; media representation of the issue has been raised and highlighted more in recent years and with this in mind, my research question aims to explore the issue further. How does the media portrayal of knife crime in London create moral panic among UK citizens? Theory For this research, theories such as Stanley Cohen's (1972) Folk Devils and Moral Panic Theory and Howard Becker's (1963) labeling theory can be used to evaluate and explain how the media reports the London stabbings and reactions of the British public in response to these attacks. Ulrich Beck's (1996) risk society theory will be used briefly to ascertain what risk society means in relation to this research question and in this case the risk society will be people who commit knife crimes and the media who report the problem. Phenomenon Risk Information and Media Portrayals Knife crime as a topic is very difficult to explore as there is no clear classification to describe it, making it difficult to define which crime falls into the knife crime category. This can be demonstrated by Eades et al (2007:9) in their book on 'Knife Crime', a review of evidence and policy, which states that "knife crime potentially encompasses a very wide range of crimes and therefore causes problems both in defining and determining its prevalence." They further go on to argue that much of the reporting of knife crime by politicians and the media is misleading to the public due to unreliable information and a failure to present the "facts accurately." As mentioned in my introduction, knife crime is not a new phenomenon in the UK and particularly in London, it has been widespread for over a decade and beyond of the UK to investigate knife and firearm crime, shows that over four years, from 2013 to 2017, police data relating to knife crime increased by 39%. However; since January 2018 we have seen an increase in cases of knife crimereported to the police and the media. Figures in a report from the Office for National Statistics show there was an increase in reported cases from March 2017 to March 2018 and that violence involving weapons such as a knife increased by 40,127 compared to March 2016-17. However, one criticism of the report is that it does not provide information on the race, ethnicity or age of the offender. According to Hall (1981), “the media help to 'integrate' society, we must understand simply that they maximize knowledge and contact between different and diverse groups in society”. An example of this would be if the UK government had important news to communicate to the public, they would use the media to distribute it. Another way the media can influence the public is through the language they use not only in the body of their article. but also as the title of their article. The Telegraph (2018) begins its article with the headline “Child stabbings rise by 63% amid disturbing trend of younger victims of knife crime”. Another article from the Guardian (2018) begins with “Streets of Fear” or again from the Guardian (2018) “Knife crime is an epidemic. Do we care enough to look for a cure? boys, 15 years old, left in hospital with stab wounds." All of these newspaper articles begin with punchy, bold headlines that stand out and are the first thing that is sure to capture the imagination of readers. However, it is not just the headlines that spark people's imagination, it is also the language and images used in the articles that further cause panic in society. Knife crime is currently a big problem in the UK; however, most of the media articles provided appear to only depict attacks that occurred in London. This means we are not getting a true picture of how big the knife crime problems are in the UK. In this research paper, the at-risk society affected by knife crime is the public and the streets around where the knife crime occurred. Beck (2002:631) World Risk Theory argues that “risk intrinsically contains the concept of control” and “presupposes decision making”. If we link this to knife crime we can see that people who commit knives have control and power. They used their decision-making skills to weigh the risks, pros and cons of committing these attacks against others and continued with their crimes. Cohen's (1972) theory of moral panic and folk devil states: “Societies appear to be subject, from time to time, to periods of moral panic.” Cohen further goes on to say that if a person; or a group of people, the condition is seen in such a way that it poses a threat to society, it is natural for the media to inform the public in a way that suits politicians and elites. If you relate moral panic and popular devil theory to the media presentation of knife crime areas as risky societies, it is easy to see why people might choose to stay away due to the fear that has been created. it can happen to them and then it can happen to me, or it could be a child who has been killed in a crime with a knife, so to keep him safe they keep him in the house. Becker's (1962) labeling theory argues that it can be used to describe the city itself in this research, newspapers describe London as streets of fear, a London bloodbath or an epidemic. This could convince local visitors and tourists not to visit some streets in London for fear of being attacked later, this could damage people's businesses and impact.