1. Summary

2. What are Moral Panics?
 Term moral panic coined by Jack Young in
1971 and introduced to the wider society
in 1972 by Stanley Cohen
 They are a social overreaction to anew
‘seemingly threatening phenomenon’ and
arise as a consequence of the that
phenomenon’s real or supposed threat to
society

3. Moral Panics have 5 characteristics
What are they?

4. Three Types of Moral Panic
What are they?

5. Purpose of Moral Panics
 Moral panics reinforce social order
and regulate and control divergence
from the behaviour and values of
the dominant culture

6. The Media and Moral Panics
 Connection between the media and moral
panics is not new:
 In 1964 the media fuelled fear over British
youth cultures known as ‘Mods’ and ‘Rockers’
 The groups were portrayed as a new threat to
public safety with exaggerated claims of
danger after violence between the groups
occurred on day at the beach

7.  The media uses certain terminology to
portray moral panic to the public such as:
 Mugging, looting, new menace threatening
society, villains, gangs, etc
 This can result in people feeling fear and
anxiety
 New terminology can be introduced to
describe a new threat such as ‘wilding’

8.  The media repeats stories continuously,
fuelling the fear and moral panic
 They also use these techniques to create
moral panic:
 Camera angles
 Background music
 Location
 Lighting
 Use of certain images (dress and facial
expression)

9.  Moral panics sell television time and
newspapers
 Media often deliver one sided stories and
do not provide the full picture and use
omission and manipulate audience
viewpoints
 The media then encourages audience to
‘draw their own conclusions’ from the
information they have being given

10. Implications for Educators
 Educators need to be aware of:
 Media consumption
 How the media portrays certain groups
 How media can provide misinformation
and focus on entertainment
 Parents expectations of opinions and
the need to be well informed about
what is in the media

11.  Educators also need to be aware of how
they are positioned by the media
 Teachers need to be aware of their
vulnerability to the media and moral
panics
 Literacy moral panic – sudden decline from
PISA world leader in 2000 & 2003 to falling
literacy standards and an inquiry in
2004-2006

12. Teaching Media Literacy
and Moral Education
 It’s important for students to understand that
texts are biased, portray certain viewpoints and
silence others and do affect peoples ideas
 Teaching media literacy explicitly allows students
to determine if an event is evidence of a general
decline or just an incident involving a small
group of people for other reasons
 Luke & Freebody’s four resources model, Text
Analyst role has explicit teaching of strategies to
‘critically analyse and transform texts’

13.  Moral education is the deliberate teaching
of particular views, attitudes and
dispositions
 Therefore teaching students to critically
think about knowledge construction and
promotion in our society will prepare
them to reflectively think and review
media literacy and it’s impact on their
individual morals and values

14. References
Gannon, S., & Sawyer, W. (2007). “Whole language” and moral panic in Australia. International Journal of
Progressive Education, 3 (2), 33-51. Retrieved from August 30, 2011 from http://www.inased.org/v3n2/
gannonsawyer.pdf
Goode, E., & Ben-Yehuda, N. (2006). Critical readings: moral panics and the media. In C. Critcher (Eds.), Moral
panics: an introduction (pp 50 – 59). England: Open University Press.
Luke, A., & Freebody, P. (1999). A map of possible practices: Further notes on the four resources model.
Practically Primary 4(2), 5-8. Retrieved from July 27, 2011, from Queensland University of Technology
Course Materials Database.
Schuitema, J., Ten Dam, G., & Veugelers, W. (2008). Teaching strategies for moral education: a review. Journal
of Curriculum Studies, 40(1), 69-89. Retrieved August 30, 2011, from Education Resources Information
Center (ERIC) database. (ERIC Document No EJ784204).
McWilliam, E., & Jones, A. (2005). An unprotected species? On teachers as risky subjects. British Educational
Research Journal, 31(1), 109-120. doi: 10.1080/0141192052000310056
Welch, M., Price, E., & Yanky, N. (2002). Moral panic over youth violence: Wilding and the manufacture of menace
in the media. Youth & Society, 34(1), 3-30.