Familiar Strangers, Juvenile Panic and the British Press

This book argues that Britain is gripped by an endemic and ongoing panic about the position of children in society which frames them as, alternately, victims and threats. It argues the press is a key player in promoting this discourse, which is rooted in a wide-scale breakdown in social trust.

Directly addresses key issues and debates of public interest in the UK, including the Jimmy Savile inquiries, criminal prosecutions of elderly paedophiles, and inquiries into allegations of historical abuse by politicians Provides historical context with an overview of the evolution of perceptions and representations of children and childhood down the centuries One of the first empirically based books to analyse the way in which readers contribute and respond to newspaper narratives in posts on discussion threads

Autorentext

Dr James Morrison is an experienced journalist and university lecturer. He worked for a number of years as a reporter, first on local then national newspapers including the Independent on Sunday. He has lectured in journalism and public affairs since 2003, and is currently senior lecturer in journalism at Kingston University, UK.

Klappentext

This book argues that Britain is gripped by an endemic panic about the position of children in society which frames them as, alternately, victims and threats. It argues that the press and primary definers, from politicians to the police, are key players in promoting this discourse.

Using a mix of intergenerational focus-groups and analysis of online newspaper discussion-threads, the book demonstrates that, far from being passive consumers of this agenda-setting 'juvenile panic' discourse, ordinary citizens (particularly parents) actively contribute to it and, in so doing, sustain and reinforce it. A series of interviews with newspaper journalists illuminates the role news media play in fanning the flames of panic, by exposing the commercial drivers conspiring to promote dramatic narratives about children. The book concludes that today's juvenile panic though far from the first to grip Britain is a projection of the wide-scale breakdown of social trust between individuals in neoliberal societies.

Inhalt

1. Trust, Risk and Framing Contemporary Childhood.- 2. 'Worthy' Versus 'Unworthy' Children: Images of Childhood Through Time.- 3. Our Children and Other People's: Childhood in the Age of Distrust.- 4. Commercializing Distrust: Framing Juveniles in the News.- 5. 'Every Parent's Worst Nightmare': the Abduction of April Jones.- 6. Strangers No More: Towards Reconstructing Trust.- Bibliography.