NCJ Number
225989
Journal
The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 48 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2009 Pages: 37-51
Date Published
February 2009
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This article examines how newspapers report the perceived crime threats and assesses the extent to which the concerns can be understood as a moral panic.
Abstract
Results suggest that the “A2” accession should not be considered as an isolated case-study, but needs to be seen within the context of an increasingly insecure Europe. In examining the case of the United Kingdom newspaper reporting of the “A2” accession, the analysis suggests that the episode could be described as a moral panic. Claims makers constructed Bulgarian and Romanian migrants as folk devils and newspapers played a central role in projecting accession disproportionately as a social problem. However, to understand the “A2” accession and its media coverage, the moral-panic model needs to be stretched to take into account the changing nature of the media and the way that pressure groups operate within the developing media landscape. The nature of mediated communication is changing and moral-panic models need to adapt also in order to remain relevant. Data were collected using 216 articles; 114 from The Guardian/The Observer and 102 from The Express newspapers. Tables, notes, and references