Media panic

The term “media panic” was coined by Danish media scholar Kirsten Drotner.^[1] Media panic refers to the highly emotionally charged discourse surrounding the emergence of new medium or media technology - such as the Internet, the World Wide Web, computer games or social media - (which assume the role of ‘folk devils’^[2]) that is feared threaten society and its values. It can be considered a specification of the wider concept of “moral panic” and according to Drotner followers several basic characteristics:^[1]

The media is both the initiator and disseminator of the discussion
The discussion is highly emotionally charged and morally polarizing (the medium either “good” or “bad”), those who oppose it tend to be the most vocal
Concerns tend to centre around potential effects on children and the young and their perceived vulnerability to its influence – (mass media bias)
Advocates (‘moral entrepreneurs’) tend to be representatives of certain groups (religious, professional, political, socio-economic) and have vested interests in the discussion, often deliberately framing youth as victims.^[3]
According to John Springhall, media panics are often not strictly concerned by the nature of juvenile misbehaviour but instead become scapegoats for more general adult anxieties – fear of the future, of technological change and the erosion of moral absolutes. “Attacks on the influence of the media thereby act to conceal social uncertainties.” ^[4]

Factors

Sensationalism: Media outlets may exaggerate the severity or likelihood of a threat that the new medium or media technology poses in order to capture attention and drive ratings.^[5]

Simplification: complex and nuanced issues are often oversimplified, tenuous links may be presented as profound or inevitable, leading to misunderstandings and misconceptions by the public.

Emotional appeal: media coverage may evoke strong emotions reactions such as fear, anger, outrage or disgust.

Amplification: social networking platforms can amplify media panic by enabling misinformation to spread rapidly and creating algorithmic echo chambers which form feedback loops of anxiety and uncertainty.

History

Media panic has a long history, going back even as far as Ancient Greece with Socrates condemning the written word: “if men learn this they implant forgetfulness into their souls”.^[6] The term, media panic, was coined by Danish media scholar Kirsten Drotner in 1998 addressing the relation of moral panic specifically to the emergence of new technologies.

Over the last several hundred years there have been numerous examples of sudden short-lived bouts of public concern at the introduction of new media technologies.^[7] All of which have followed a distinctly similar progression. This process is seen as “cyclical and unchanging”, old media become acceptable and fade into the background and are replaced by new media and scapegoated in the same way.^[3] The ‘panic cycle’ consists of four main stages:^[8]

Trusting beginnings
Rising panic
Decreasing fears
Moving on

A timeline of media panics

450 BCE: Socrates/Plato

1400s: Printing press

1700s: Popularisation of novel reading

1880/90s: Penny dreadfuls

1930: Radio

1950: Comic book censorship

1960: Television

1970/80: Video nasties

1990/2000s: Violent video games

2000-present: internet, smartphones, social networks

Examples and case studies

Comic books

In the 1950s Psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham made largely unfounded claims that so-called “crime comics” indoctrinated children into a life of violence and delinquency. In his book "Seduction of the Innocent" he linked these American comics to juvenile crime, as well as promotion of homosexual lifestyles (Batman and Robin) and unfeminine activities (Wonder Woman).^[9]^[10] These assertions particularly appealed to middle-class parents causing an uproar of concern for their children.

This media panic had substantial and long-lasting impacts including the formation of the Comics Code Authority which drastically limited the type of content that could be published. Many in the industry were forced to leave the profession and the content that remained was far tamer.

Video Nasties

In the 1980 Video Nasties, often low-budget horror films, became the subject of media panic. The Daily Mail started a campaign of front-page headlines: “Ban video sadism now”, described the “Rape of our children's minds”, and in a story headed “‘Taken over’ by something evil from the TV set”, suggested that a boy had been possessed by one such film.^[11] This highly emotive coverage stirred up a frenzy among the general public which led to the Video Recordings Act being passed in 1984. This gave statutory power to the British Board of Film Classification, the act made it illegal to sell or supply a video that the board hadn’t examined and classified.

Social networking sites

Social media is the most recent technological shift in the way we consume media. And so, somewhat predictably, has been met with a surge of concern ^[12] surrounding the impacts of usage on teenagers. The NYC Mayor Eric Adams classifying “unfettered access to and use of social media” as a public health crisis as well as accusing companies like TikTok of “monetising our children's privacy and jepradising their mental health” by including “addictive and dangerous features” in the design of their platform. ^[13]

Unlike other examples, social media has the capability to produce virtually unlimited supply of potential threats.^[14] Curtis Puryeara also explains how virality is a key factor in how users classify potential threats through the Social Amplification Model of Moral Panics on Social Media. We have evolved to detect threats, but we must then identify which warrant a response.^[15] We rarely consider them in isolation^[16] and often look to others for information. The combination of virality metrics (e.g. number of shares) and threatening content may act as a heuristic for users when trying to evaluate the perceived danger of a threat as it indicates that others consider the threat worth their attention. ^[17]^[18] ^[19]

Addressing the problem

A multifaceted approach is needed when it comes to addressing the problem of media panics and mitigating their effects on individuals and society.

Reasonable reporting practices

Media outlets and social networking sites must be held accountable for the information they are publishing by regulatory bodies to ensure balanced and well-founded coverage. For example, through fact-checking, this is of particular importance on social media given the recent emergence of generative AI technology, to prevent the dissemination of dis- and misinformation. Sensationalism should be avoided to prevent an over-exaggerated sense of threat from forming.

Media literacy

The provision of media literacy education in schools, the workplace, and society can help individuals to navigate modern media, giving them the tools and skills to scrutinise the legitimacy of sources and discern credible information from misinformation.

References

^ ^a ^b Drotner, K. (1998). Youth culture and the media: Unraveling of selected adult fears. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Teaching popular culture: Beyond radical pedagogy (pp. 83–109). UCL Press.
^ Cohen, S. (2011). Folk devils and moral panics (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203828250
^ ^a ^b Buckingham, D. (Ed.). (1998). Teaching popular culture: Beyond radical pedagogy. UCL Press.
^ Springhall, J. (1998). The Genesis of Media Panic: Discourse on Juvenile Delinquency in Britain, 1945–60. Macmillan.
^ Vaidhyanathan, S. (2018). Antisocial media: How Facebook disconnects us and undermines democracy. Oxford University Press.
^ Plato (c. 429-347 B.C.E), "Phaedrus" (c. 360 B.C.E.), 274c-275 b, R(eginald) Hackforth, transl., 1952.
^ Drotner, K. (2022). The Co-Construction of Media and Childhood. Routledge.
^ Castro, T. (2015). Media panic: The definition, history, and stages of moral panic. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/media-panic-4172974
^ Wertham, F. (1954). Seduction of the innocent. Rinehart.
^ Salvo, M. J. (2016). Comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels. In S. Steinberg (Ed.), The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies (pp. 1–4). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
^ Phelan, L. (2014, October 14). Film censorship: How moral panic led to a mass ban of 'video nasties'. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/film-censorship-how-moral-panic-led-mass-ban-video-nasties-9797935.html
^ Walsh, J. P. (2020). Social media and moral panics: Assessing the effects of technological change on societal reaction. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(6), 840-859. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877920912257
^ NAZZARO, J. (2024, March 29). Eric Adams calls unfettered social media access a public health crisis. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/eric-adams-calls-unfettered-social-media-access-a-public-health-crisis-campaigns-media-social-media-health-72000596d857e60773d19d8cbe9b694d
^ Puryeara, C., Cheong, M., Gómez, J., & Zieger, L. (2024). A large-scale examination of moral panics on social media. Social Media + Society, 10(1), 205630512110736. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211073648
^ Richards, A. S., Banas, J. A., & Magid, Y. (2014). Cultural and social factors that affect the transmission of collective anxiety: A case study of a campus lockdown. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 42(4), 418–437.
^ Renn, O. (2011). The social amplification/attenuation of risk framework: Application to climate change. WIREs Climate Change, 2(2), 154–169.
^ Kim, J. W. (2018). Fear and loathing on social media: Towards an understanding of virality and user engagement in scientific misinformation. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–13).
^ Kim, J. (2021). Panic-driven virality: Emotional arousal predicts social transmission of negative information on social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 118, 106667.
^ Lee-Won, R. J., Herzog, L., Park, S., Jennings, G., & Kovic, M. (2017). Familiarity breeds content: Can prior experience using social media explain why some content goes viral more than others? Computers in Human Behavior, 67, 233–241.

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[:0-1] Drotner, K. (1998). Youth culture and the media: Unraveling of selected adult fears. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Teaching popular culture: Beyond radical pedagogy (pp. 83–109). UCL Press.

[2] Cohen, S. (2011). Folk devils and moral panics (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203828250

[:1-3] Buckingham, D. (Ed.). (1998). Teaching popular culture: Beyond radical pedagogy. UCL Press.

[4] Springhall, J. (1998). The Genesis of Media Panic: Discourse on Juvenile Delinquency in Britain, 1945–60. Macmillan.

[5] Vaidhyanathan, S. (2018). Antisocial media: How Facebook disconnects us and undermines democracy. Oxford University Press.

[6] Plato (c. 429-347 B.C.E), "Phaedrus" (c. 360 B.C.E.), 274c-275 b, R(eginald) Hackforth, transl., 1952.

[7] Drotner, K. (2022). The Co-Construction of Media and Childhood. Routledge.

[8] Castro, T. (2015). Media panic: The definition, history, and stages of moral panic. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/media-panic-4172974

[9] Wertham, F. (1954). Seduction of the innocent. Rinehart.

[10] Salvo, M. J. (2016). Comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels. In S. Steinberg (Ed.), The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies (pp. 1–4). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

[11] Phelan, L. (2014, October 14). Film censorship: How moral panic led to a mass ban of 'video nasties'. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/film-censorship-how-moral-panic-led-mass-ban-video-nasties-9797935.html

[12] Walsh, J. P. (2020). Social media and moral panics: Assessing the effects of technological change on societal reaction. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(6), 840-859. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877920912257

[13] NAZZARO, J. (2024, March 29). Eric Adams calls unfettered social media access a public health crisis. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/eric-adams-calls-unfettered-social-media-access-a-public-health-crisis-campaigns-media-social-media-health-72000596d857e60773d19d8cbe9b694d

[14] Puryeara, C., Cheong, M., Gómez, J., & Zieger, L. (2024). A large-scale examination of moral panics on social media. Social Media + Society, 10(1), 205630512110736. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211073648

[15] Richards, A. S., Banas, J. A., & Magid, Y. (2014). Cultural and social factors that affect the transmission of collective anxiety: A case study of a campus lockdown. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 42(4), 418–437.

[16] Renn, O. (2011). The social amplification/attenuation of risk framework: Application to climate change. WIREs Climate Change, 2(2), 154–169.

[17] Kim, J. W. (2018). Fear and loathing on social media: Towards an understanding of virality and user engagement in scientific misinformation. In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–13).

[18] Kim, J. (2021). Panic-driven virality: Emotional arousal predicts social transmission of negative information on social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 118, 106667.

[19] Lee-Won, R. J., Herzog, L., Park, S., Jennings, G., & Kovic, M. (2017). Familiarity breeds content: Can prior experience using social media explain why some content goes viral more than others? Computers in Human Behavior, 67, 233–241.

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