Media sensationalism:

Ethnicity, poverty, location and social status

A combination of poverty, race, and geographical location is another way in which the media portrays youth as a threat to society. An article published by the Winnipeg Free Press detailing supposed factual police and court accounts of the nature and composition of youth gang crime, outlines the subtle ways the media ties issues together so as to give the illusion of threats to law and order and the safety of the community. The statement asserts that dangerous gangs (in Manitoba) are composed of aboriginal and racially mixed kids from poor and broken homes in the inner city (Schissel, 1997). It also states that due to the respective nation (encompassing Manitoba) leading in child poverty, statistically speaking, there is no wonder that crime rates are higher (Ibid.). Although these statements are true, the media neglects to contextualise the crime problems, once again leaving social ills being reduced in the final analysis, by the media, to the individual or the group.
 

James Bulger Murder

This attitude was further demonstrated when the murder of James Bulger, a two-year old Liverpudlian, gained worldwide publicity. The British press went on a rampage, blaming the underclass for the current social ills in Britain(ibid.). Even
after the event, the consensus in Britain was, “unless the poor are dealt with, they will continue to be a social and physical threat to traditional British society” (Ibid.). Yet another case where the media takes a negative stance to the threat of youths, resulting in moral panics in the public domain.
 
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