Moral panic is generally something that the media tries to create. It is a fear in older people about what younger people are doing. The media try to inform parents what their children are doing but what they end up doing is informing other young people how to get involved in something they would otherwise know nothing about. Moral panic happens when something looks like it is going to threaten social order. So this is one of the impacts of publishing people's behavior. The media make things look like all teenagers are involved in something when really it is only a few hundred or thousand involved, but now it becomes a conscious activity for them to get involved in the particular behavior.
The media builds up events and put in place the conditions for this behavior to happen and then people are outraged when teenagers do behave like this. The world panic can be associated with lack of control so when parents find out what their teenagers are taking part in on the streets they panic because it's something that they cannot control. It happens when there is a disagreement between groups or a lack of understanding and certain people become a threat and threaten the conventions of society and how it operates. The media have hidden agendas and normally what they report on is over staged and sensationalised. This results in minority groups getting all the backlash.
A modern day moral panic would be binge drinking.
It is on the news a lot lately about how they are trying to make it illegal for an off license and supermarkets to sell cheap drinks or have special offers on alcohol. They are trying to stop teenagers having access to alcohol by making it more expensive to buy. The way the media are reporting it is as if all teenagers are going out every weekend and getting really drunk and hanging round street corners when in reality this is not the case. But because of this media coverage thats what parents think all teenagers are doing. Binge drinking is seen as a major threat to society when really it's only a small group of people who do it. The majority of people drink moderately and can control their drinking habits but the media only report on the people who fall out of nightclubs.
In countries like Spain and France they have a more relaxed attitude towards alcohol. Alcohol is widely available in shops, bars and cafe for a cheap price. It is also seen as ok for people younger then 18 in these countries to have a glass of wine with dinner. I think that this approach to alcohol is much better as children are gradually introduced to it and don't feel the need to go out drinking on the streets to hide from their parents. They can have a drink at dinner with their parents in a safe place. I think if Ireland as a country didn't make such a big deal over alcohol it wouldn't be such a big deal. They need to adopt a more relaxed approach. The media and news reporters need to stop going on about it and people wouldn't get into such a panic over it.
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