The mass media was the main culprit for trending the negative energy given by society to the youths, because most of the riot trouble and incidents were found to be erupted by the youths who are stereotyped all the way through the various broadcasts and interviews that were released during this time period in August 2011. Statistics show that 11% of 11-17 have been to court, this information shocked me as I would expect children of this age to be enjoying there lives playing nicely with friends, however this is the total opposite result as it sounds as though they must have been either violent or disobeying the law in some way shape or form which is not acceptable, but personally I don't believe children or 'teens' of this age can develop such a negative outlook on the society they live in and most of what they do will be copied from peers of a older generation or from the media for example film, t.v, music videos. They will believe that if they are being shown to us all constantly that this is what society should be made up of and the violence and swearing e.t.c that is used among this media frenzy is the usual behavior that the people of today are drawn to, which if thought about logically could be seen as a major impact on the teenagers typical life today.
Theorist Gramsci says that 'Britain's mainstream media have seized on the stereotype of hooded, unemployed, violent youths as the culprits' He goes onto use the quote "demonetization of youths" which is simple terminology to link back to because he is basically saying that the social and mass media are projecting the youths in a negative light as they are stereotyping each of them on just the way dress, which I believe to be wrong because someone may enjoy dressing in casual 'hooded' attire and because of this it shouldn't spark up the fact that they have been involved in the London Riots, or any other form of trouble in that matter because this element should not have any direct link and each 'youth' should respected for the way they are before being judged and branded as a bad person. This theorist backs up my idea and also can link into Stanley Cohen's idea of the Deviance Amplification Theory which means that the deviants 'the youths' in this situation are brought up in the news or media in general and the mass media or any other type of media will 'amplify' the story, this means "making the situation seem ten times worse than it really is just to entice in more viewers and get them to agree with what they say" I believe this type of theory is done on a daily basis in the local headlines some of the stories do not even sound like they are remotely true and you can see that they have been created just for the interest of the local media to receive different opinions/feedback of the society and see if they agree with what is said. I believe situations like this have arisen within the London riots as youths have been targeted as the main type of 'group' to have been involved in the dangerous events that took place over the three days and stories will have been written for example Looting and Rioting continues from the BBC News page, this has been expanded to seem like the youths have caused such a high percentage of problems when really the problems could have been minor or even still only involved a small number of people and the rest could have been on lookers, but instead by explaining it to be this extreme situation the readers would comply with what is happening and because the 'youths' are the main targets for these problems these readers could now see them as the main culprits for these problems and believe everything that happens within the riots will be down to them, which is a very unfair judgement but they can only make opinions on the information they are given and because it's been amplified to such a high level most will believe it to be true as it's to do with the main updates regarding this serious situation.
Theorist Gramsci says that 'Britain's mainstream media have seized on the stereotype of hooded, unemployed, violent youths as the culprits' He goes onto use the quote "demonetization of youths" which is simple terminology to link back to because he is basically saying that the social and mass media are projecting the youths in a negative light as they are stereotyping each of them on just the way dress, which I believe to be wrong because someone may enjoy dressing in casual 'hooded' attire and because of this it shouldn't spark up the fact that they have been involved in the London Riots, or any other form of trouble in that matter because this element should not have any direct link and each 'youth' should respected for the way they are before being judged and branded as a bad person. This theorist backs up my idea and also can link into Stanley Cohen's idea of the Deviance Amplification Theory which means that the deviants 'the youths' in this situation are brought up in the news or media in general and the mass media or any other type of media will 'amplify' the story, this means "making the situation seem ten times worse than it really is just to entice in more viewers and get them to agree with what they say" I believe this type of theory is done on a daily basis in the local headlines some of the stories do not even sound like they are remotely true and you can see that they have been created just for the interest of the local media to receive different opinions/feedback of the society and see if they agree with what is said. I believe situations like this have arisen within the London riots as youths have been targeted as the main type of 'group' to have been involved in the dangerous events that took place over the three days and stories will have been written for example Looting and Rioting continues from the BBC News page, this has been expanded to seem like the youths have caused such a high percentage of problems when really the problems could have been minor or even still only involved a small number of people and the rest could have been on lookers, but instead by explaining it to be this extreme situation the readers would comply with what is happening and because the 'youths' are the main targets for these problems these readers could now see them as the main culprits for these problems and believe everything that happens within the riots will be down to them, which is a very unfair judgement but they can only make opinions on the information they are given and because it's been amplified to such a high level most will believe it to be true as it's to do with the main updates regarding this serious situation.
The social media is something used mainly by the younger generation, the frequently used sites are usually Facebook and Twitter because these are both programs in which you can communicate with other people and in the case of the London Riots; Spread the word about the actions/events that were going to take place throughout the duration of these fight agaisnt society. These can both be seen as 'skilled' use of the technology we have available to us today as they used the media to pose a threat to the social order, this was done mainly during the riots to organize a group of gangs to riot agaisnt the police force, this became a popular target due to the unexpected shooting of Mark Duggan which was done by a police officer. The groups did start with a peaceful protest showing they felt what the police did was wrong, but because they felt like no one was listening to their thoughts and opinions on the matter they took the situation in to their own hands. Of com results show that 37% of teenagers have a Blackberry phone, it's seen as a status symbol, they are usually popular between 16-24 year olds. The reason for this is mainly down to the fact that Blackberry's have an instant messaging app installed inside of them, which means it's free to talk to friends compared to using a different phone and paying for each text you send. Having this free opportunity it meant broadcasts could be sent VIA 'bbm' to let groups know about the youths plans to attack the cities on a larger scale, these messages cannot be accessed by the police or any other legal group as no money is linked to the program which is another positive point for these kids as they know whatever they say about attacking a certain person/place and who ever started these allegations would never be caught through this messaging service.
This is definitely a negative point for the society as they cannot just assume it was certain people and without any evidence no accusations can be made, MP David Lammy called for companies to suspend services mainly Blackberry because of all the broadcasts and plans getting out of control, one person also asked for the internet to be turned off, which is a really unlikely command to be asked for as it's human rights in many respects as most of the population do use the internet in their day to day lives, if the government are suspecting all of the problems of the London Riots to be linked mainly to youths why should everyone else suffer in their place? It's also a communication device that could be used for work, socializing and even research so this suggestion was never taken forward, because it would effect the world in too many ways. This would again get brought back onto the subject of everything being the governments fault when really they are trying to stop the main culprits but this type of action would not imply that problem hands on.
There are many other reasons why youths wanted to protest, they involved the government cuts, unemployment rates increasing and high tuition fees. The social media allowed them to do that in their own personal way, however as David Gauntlett explains; 'Identities are not 'given' but are constructed and negotiated' This suggests to me that many of these branded 'youths' are following the crowd and becoming 'peer pressured' into having the same beliefs and opinions as everyone else around their age group towards the riots and the government in general. For example a young student may believe that the tuition fees are extremely high for universities and know it will be impossible to pay so are not exactly positive about the whole thing, however there is always a back up plan; loans are available to pay for the university that you choose to go to and is then paid back in installments every month from when u earn over 21k a year. These results should be positive for most people, but for that small number of people who still believe that it's unacceptable they will try and change the outlook on others about this situation which can escalate into these riots for example because they think no one is listening to how they feel in the current issues. So I think some youth identities are definitely constructed in the ways of "friends" so that the whole group believes in the same things and negotiated because if some people don't believe that violence is the answer they would need to be persuaded by their friends so they know everything is going to be ok, so Gauntlett's point is very useful and links back to this topic successfully.
Because the social media website like Facebook and Twitter are accessible to people of all ages and creates a large opportunity for everyone to have their own personal opinion and say about something without being judged they are used constantly by millions of people everyday. However linking these websites back to just the London Riots they were sometimes used to communicate with people to start up attacks and talk about what damage had been caused through the riots, but they were also used in a positive light as they were both used to support the clean up of the riots. Facebook had a Riot Clean Up page which could be 'liked' and then extra information would be given on when it will take place and it also means you could socialise with others who have also entered the group before the event takes place so bonds have begun. On Twitter it was seen as #cleanup and many people from all over the country promoted this idea which also led to more and more people tweeting about it and noticing what things now needed to be taken into their own hands to get everyone's lives back on track.
This small campaign however does so these 'youths' in a positive light because they have put something together that they want a lot of people to come to in aid of returning everyone's live back to normal without leaving everything to the government because I think personally the whole riot frenzy got out of control and the groups who started it will come to realise that in the future. There was also a page made via Facebook which said Supporting MET Police Agaisnt London Rioters, so this was clearly a problem and one of the main elements why the riots actually began, however the more and more people who like that page make the youths all look like they are in the wrong and the police have done nothing that is worth fighting over.
There are a variety of other programs/websites e.t.c that youths are seen in a positive light in and show the society that not everyone of them was actually involved in the riots and their lives are totally different, for example the "Not in my name campaign" ran and consisted of a large group of children all holding up a bored with the "not in my name" quote on and this was captured and added to the social media sites to show the children that didn't want their names used in a negative way because they are from the same age group as the youths who were involved in the riots themselves. I think this whole campaign is such a good idea as these children can show that they are solely trying to live their lives and don't want the society they live in to be affected because of other people's actions. Appreciation websites have also been created to show the strengths of the teenage groups and how what they have done has had an impact on how they develop throughout their lives and what potentional they put into their work to hope they find a successful career in the future, I think these are a really good reliable source and society should look over them before making judgement on every youth because not all are the same.
The french theorist Michael Foucault explains that "people do not have a real identity within themselves, that's just a way of talking about themselves e.g Discourse" He also goes onto say that identity "is a shifting, temporary construction". Relating he's theory back to my target points the London Riots I think it links into Gauntlets idea as every person follows a trend or the personality or someone else in ways because influences do matter on people's opinions and outlooks on life and again peer pressure and watching others do the bad things that society understandably dislikes about the youths of today are some of the things that "the quieter ones" would take in and maybe want to portray themselves. He goes onto explain that the mass media is seen as the 'power' in this instance as it produces reactions and resistances to the goings on in the media today. When the London Riots occurred, most people where shocked and appalled by the behavior of the youths, but they themselves wouldn't have felt any guilt as 1) they were protesting agaisnt the killing of Mark Duggan and 2) every single one of the youths worn scarves over their faces to hide their identity. These points alone could make a difference to an average teenager who maybe thrive off the thrill of being in trouble and accomplishing something at the end of it, or some may just want to spend time with their friends and it means taking part in these upsetting circumstances to do that. Most of the theories I have learnt about in my lessons can relate back to these riots and definitely the social media as without it this 3 day attack may not have been on such a large scale and everything would have turned out differently.
Overall the representation of youths throughout the London Riots was of a negative impact as many people accused them of being the main culprits throughout and every situation that occurred had some relevance to their day to day lives at the time in August 2011, so opinions from the social media confirm how 'badly behaved' and 'violent' these youths are, the thing that I don't necessarily agree with this is that none of the youths really got to give their personal reasons for being involved in the riots or even to say that they hadn't, the media just made up the minds of the rest of society and that's why the society we live in today is so divided mainly because a few people have a certain opinion but they broadcast it to an extent where the rest of the town/country/city will hear/see and think that they are telling the truth, by amplifying the information it's going to catch on to a range of people from different backgrounds/countries e.t.c to all gang up on a group of teenagers which is unfair in every respect. The media haven't challenged the representation of youths by asking them the questions they want to find the answers too or even talked about any positive sides to the youths that some of them are actually apart of, for example awards for teenagers or campaigns agaisnt the violence and fighting that teens themselves may have put together. The media around today never look into the happier positive sides to things if they think it won't attract the readers/viewers because that's the key point they always have to focus on, by writing or speaking about who they believe to be the problem during the riots and naming them 'youths' it's going to catch on as no other suspects of any other age range was mentioned. Without the social media aspect I don't think judgments would be made as easily and everyone could have their own impression on something/someone without being questioned by it. For example if the youths knew they were not going to record for live TV they may speak to locals about why they have been involved which would help them both understand whats going on and go onto re build bridges as they can inform other locals who will know the real truth as it's being heard by the people themselves. So for this instance the social media has been all one sided and confirmed the youths as bad people and not tried to see a balanced argument, which at the end of the day is sad because without real quotes from these people you can immediately tell what has been said is on account of what these tabloids and correspondents believe.
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