‘Menacing Youth’ and ‘Broken Families’: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Reporting of the 2011 English Riots in the Daily Express Using Moral Panic Theory

Abstract

This paper utilises moral panic theory and critical discourse analysis to examine the coverage of the 2011 English riots in the British newspaper, the Daily Express. Findings show that the Daily Express drew on two previous moral panics concerning youngsters and family life to diagnose the riots as a consequence of youth criminality and poor parenting. The newspaper identified young people as folk devils of the unrest by adopting discourses which vilified them, their behaviour and choice of clothing. Furthermore, the Daily Express exaggerated the severity of the disorder by describing it as war and mass murder to reinforce to its readers the supposed threat posed by young people to social relations. Additionally, the newspaper supported politicians who denied structural determinants as causes of the unrest and, instead, blamed micro issues including a decline in ‘traditional’ family life and morals and discipline among youngsters. While some suggest that folk devils are now defended by experts, the Daily Express gave column inches to expert commentators who also pinpointed young people and poor parenting as causes of the disorder. This paper proposes that future research on media coverage of social problems might, in addition to exploring whether the reporting of an issue identifies new anxieties and concerns, examine the extent to which media institutions draw on and modify discourses concerning previous and familiar social anxieties in order to interpret and frame a social problem.