Moral Panics - Research log 2

Source: Moral Panics and the British Media - a look at some contemporary 'Folk Devils', by Ian Marsh and Gaynor Melville, published by the Internet journal of Criminology in 2011.

'A condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to becomes defined as a threat to societal values and interests.'

'An approach with a strong focus on how society labels rule-breakers as belonging to particular deviant groups and how once a person or group is labeled, the actions they undertake are viewed and interpreted in terms of this label.' 

Very relevant

'Moral panics, however, are basically moral happenings and they do relate to real fears about a particular behaviour'

'Moral panics occur during periods of rapid social change and anxiety.' 
'Moral panics occur when the media turn a reasonably ordinary event and present it as extraordinary.'
'Young people are the usual target of moral panics, their behavior is 'regarded as a barometer to test the health or sickness of a society'

'The concerns are then exaggerated in regard to both scale and frequency, they are symbolised in terms of them being a threat to traditional values and are emphasized by groups of 'moral entrepreneurs' who reframe the particular problem in terms of the solutions that they favour.'
Highly relevant, a solution to videogames could be other mediums, e.g newspaper, which is why they shift the blame of violent attacks of young killers to videogames.