What sensationalist language is used?
'Chaos'
This suggests to readers that the situations definitely got out of hand and nothing is running smoothly, which is the indication that we got throughout the whole of the riots happening as the youths took it on themselves to cause a lot of the trouble mainly just for attention and to try and affect a lot of people in the process. The reason it has been described as chaos is because more and more increasing numbers of shopkeepers and residents in the attacked areas are speaking out in a negative light over what damage and upset the youths have caused during this small time period, it will change people's lives forever. The main reason I believe it is described as 'chaos' is because reports show that the police offers didn't try and stop the youths from looting various shops and attacking the streets. If the police took immediate action, then maybe this trouble wouldn't have escalated in such a huge way were it affected so many peoples lives, as they will never be the same again due to the youths destroying there prospects of day to day lives as so many jobs will be lost due to the major looting in the buildings, this would mean a increase in unemployment for no blame of their own.
This suggests to readers that the situations definitely got out of hand and nothing is running smoothly, which is the indication that we got throughout the whole of the riots happening as the youths took it on themselves to cause a lot of the trouble mainly just for attention and to try and affect a lot of people in the process. The reason it has been described as chaos is because more and more increasing numbers of shopkeepers and residents in the attacked areas are speaking out in a negative light over what damage and upset the youths have caused during this small time period, it will change people's lives forever. The main reason I believe it is described as 'chaos' is because reports show that the police offers didn't try and stop the youths from looting various shops and attacking the streets. If the police took immediate action, then maybe this trouble wouldn't have escalated in such a huge way were it affected so many peoples lives, as they will never be the same again due to the youths destroying there prospects of day to day lives as so many jobs will be lost due to the major looting in the buildings, this would mean a increase in unemployment for no blame of their own.
'Baying mobs'
Business owners explain that they were seen as vulnerable victims because of the 'Mobs' as many of the police officers took the softer approach during these situations as they were believed to be 'just as scared as the rest of the onlookers'. This shows that the youths got out of hand when taking parts in rioting if even the police force thought it was too risky and dangerous to take action. When I think of the word mobs, I associate them being a part of a large group which would be a serious element of worry for on lookers and even the police because if they seen a group of people attacking a certain place for example a furniture shop,they would know the damage could be caused in limited time because of the amount of people willing to contribute in the attack. When being in part of such a large "gang" it would be harder for the legal authorities to find out exactly who each of them are, the ones that are actually found out may not actually have had anything to do with the attacks, looting e.t.c and were only present to give their support to friends. This 'excuse' would not be believed by most people as youths are already seen in a negative light by most of society and because they all wear similar clothing and are set out with one main aim (showing these major towns that what the police force did to Mark Duggan was wrong) is the only thing on their minds.
What images are used?
Most images included in this specific article are of the police force as the article is questioning whether police did enough to stop the youths from causing all of this trouble during the riots. There is shots of the police officers actually stood watching these serious situations take place but not doing anything in the way of stopping them, in one shot there is a large group of police men looking on at a burning car and a huge gang of youths ruining these streets unnecessarily, many people have talked about the fact that the metropolitan police didn't have enough members of staff on duty during these riots, however in this image that whole questioning doesn't come into the agenda as there is more than enough people that can calm down the situation and stop it from resorting any further, but because they chose not to and just chose to stand and watch as people's homes and businesses are destroyed and their lives change forever.
The next few sets of images are mainly of police squad cars in different parts of the towns where the riots are taking place encase of any major emergencies where they need to take immediate action. No damage could be seen to these vehicles which is surprising as the youths mainly went to attack anything belonging to the police because of the social divide between them being so strong, as the two groups have totally different beliefs on these riots taking place. Underneath one of the images including a police riot van, which is bullet proof, the vehicle still doesn't seem to have any sign of being attacked, this maybe because as research shows the police officers can use plastic bullets on the youths to bring the riots under control, many may believe this is an approach that is slightly too far but if police officers can't control the youths in any other way because they are too scared their lives might be in danger than these actions would need to be put in place.
The rest of the images are the usual ones seen in the newspaper articles around this time, youths looting shops and also attacking them. They are all seen wearing the same 'stereotypical' chav outfits; hoodies, tracksuit bottoms and using head scarfs and other fabrics to cover up their identities from the police, this gives me the idea that they want to take part in all of this dangerous events but don't ever want to be caught or want their normal everyday lives to be affected. To me this isn't fair as they are ruining everyone elses lives so why shouldn't they be questioned about what they have done. However as you can see in one of the images, a prime example there are really only 3 people leading an attack on a Hackney clothing shop, the rest are just stood around watching, so to me they haven't been involved in anything to do with it but if the police then approached the situation they would all be prosecuted in some way for 'involvement', so it's images like these that need to be published in order for police to see who are actually the main culprits in all of this because not all youths are trouble causers.
How does the article construct representation of youth identity?
Is the article biased?
Are youths given a fair voice?
Once again this article reflects the identity of youths in a negative light because of there involvement in the riots and having the pictures to back up their evidence they have every right to explain their views. However this specific article is more focused around 'did the police do enough to stop the riots escalating into trouble?' so the youths are talked about in a negative way just like the rest of the newspapers but while explaining what they got up to there is also information regarding the police's actions that focused on an event, for example while youths were looting a small shop in Hackney or blowing up a car in the middle of a busy high street in both situations the police 'stood on the sidelines' and watched as towns were torn apart, excuses follow saying their wasn't enough officers on duty, but there was still no immediate sign of any of them trying to stop the youths from stealing people's personal items that they work everyday for or ruining cars/buildings just to prove a point, as soon as these situations started the police should have been straight onto them and figuring out ways they could stop them from getting any worse in the safest way possible. Another excuse was that they were worried about how out of control the youths could get and if any would try and attack them, this shouldn't be in anyway a problem as they are members of the society that people expect to help and save us from danger so when these riots erupted they should have been first on the scene stopping it. The youths are talked about in small detail as the focus is all around the police doing there job correctly, but they were still represented in the usual 'negativity' from newspapers opinions.
I don't believe they are being biased towards the police in this article as everything they talk about is backed up with quotes and photographic evidence for example these riots would not have gone on for 4 whole nights if the police stepped in on the first night and showed some authority over the towns and showed the youths exactly who they were 'messing' with so they may have stood down and these towns and local people would not be destroyed in many ways if this action was taken. They could be being biased towards the youths because again they are classing each individual who was present at the scene in a negative way explaining the violent attacks from the 'mobs' however I think specific evidence should be shown in order for the public to believe everyone there was involved in some way with the attacks, because in some of the images the youths are stood watching as others take the lead in attacking and looting shops so really they cannot be blamed for watching.
Once again this newspaper has not let youths give their opinion or feelings towards the riots and explain really why they have all decided to get revenge but take it out on the town instead of just the bad relationship they have with the police force, straight away this makes me think that these reporters are being really selfish and sly about the whole operation of creating this article as they have let the police officers explain about the amount of staff they used and what action they could of taken e.t.c e.t.c but again the youths are forgotten about so everyone can just make their own personal judgement of them, mainly negative because of the expressions and emotive language used agaisnt them throughout the report, but if they did give the youths chance to explain why then they may be able to get to the bottom of the riots beginning and understand how each of them have felt throughout.
Once again this newspaper has not let youths give their opinion or feelings towards the riots and explain really why they have all decided to get revenge but take it out on the town instead of just the bad relationship they have with the police force, straight away this makes me think that these reporters are being really selfish and sly about the whole operation of creating this article as they have let the police officers explain about the amount of staff they used and what action they could of taken e.t.c e.t.c but again the youths are forgotten about so everyone can just make their own personal judgement of them, mainly negative because of the expressions and emotive language used agaisnt them throughout the report, but if they did give the youths chance to explain why then they may be able to get to the bottom of the riots beginning and understand how each of them have felt throughout.
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