Politics and crime as well as media and crime, have direct effects on how crime is
dealt with and how much of it is really reported to the public. In Ted Chiricos's article,
"The Media, Moral Panic and the Politics of Crime Control," the issues of media, politics
and the concept of "moral panic" are discussed.
In this article, we are introduced to the term, "moral panic." This being the state
of distress and "panic" of the American people at times of high rates of crime, violence
and drugs. This "moral panic" is directly related to the media's attention over such
events. This media attention causes us as citizens to become more aware and definitely
more fearful of the things going on and developing in our society. Whether it be for a
lack of other interesting news or something else, the media tends to exaggerate prevalent
issues and make them seem (to the public) as a dilemma so large, it is incapable of
correction or better yet, improvement.
This "moral panic" experienced by U.S. citizens seems to me very ironic. Not
only because it is only when the problem seems to get out of our hands that we panic, but
that it seems to be that Americans seem to take a greater concern over these issues when
they see it is coming closer and closer to home.
We seem concerned about the "spread of this behavior to previously safe places."
These safe places are the suburbs, upper class, white America. Is this when crime and
drug use become a real "problem?" Why is it not a problem when it is found in the inner-
city amongst our inner-city children? Why? Because to American society, that is the
norm and we all know that we tend to panic when things (or people) deviate from the
norm. This makes us uncomfortable. Some people that may not be as uncomfortable
...