Familiar Strangers, Juvenile Panic and the British Press : The Decline of Social Trust

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. "Contents"--"List of Figures"--"Acknowledgements" -- "1 Trust, Risk and Framing Contemporary Childhood" -- "News media and panics about threatened childhood and youth disorder" -- "From periodic panics to â#x80;#x98;permanentâ#x80;#x99; panicking: lessons from the literature" -- "Questions of trust and security" -- "Gaps in the literature" -- "2 â#x80;#x98;Worthyâ#x80;#x99; vs â#x80;#x98;Unworthyâ#x80;#x99; Children: Images of Childhood through Time" -- "The ambiguous child" -- "Worthy versus unworthy children: positioning the young today" -- "3 Our Children and Other Peopleâ#x80;#x99;s: Childhood in the Age of Distrust" -- "Defining the discourse: dominant popular narratives about children" -- "Working-class versus middle-class: differences of opinion" -- "Agenda-setting, personal influence and Chinese whispers in the social media age" -- "The roots of â#x80;#x98;scarier worldâ#x80;#x99; thinking: some working hypotheses" -- "4 Commercializing Distrust: Framing Juveniles in the News" -- "Defining the juvenile narrative(s): how texts were analysed" -- "Framing â#x80;#x98;juvenile panicâ#x80;#x99; narratives: some examples" -- "Journalism in the online era: the professionalâ#x80;#x93;participatory interface" -- "News as collaboration: audience members as news-makers and claims-makers" -- "Constructing distrust: fear and loathing in the digital news age" -- "Constructing a â#x80;#x98;worthyâ#x80;#x99; versus â#x80;#x98;unworthyâ#x80;#x99; discourse" -- "Case study: juvenile panic as urban myth" -- "5 â#x80;#x98;Every Parentâ#x80;#x99;s Worst Nightmareâ#x80;#x99;: The Abduction of April Jones" -- "Commercializing April: harnessing and exploiting the empathy factor" -- "Keeping up with the Joneses: sourcing Aprilâ#x80;#x99;s story" -- "Constructing a crime: panic and the â#x80;#x98;serpent in paradiseâ#x80;#x99;" -- "â#x80;#x98;Every parentâ#x80;#x99;s worst nightmareâ#x80;#x99;: normalizing and universalizing stranger-danger" -- "Crystallizing concerns: April Jones, the dark, the mystery car and the familiar stranger." "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"- - Springer This book argues that Britain is gripped by an endemic panic about the position of children in society ĺl 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 ĺl 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 ĺl though far from the first to grip Britain ĺl is a projection of the wide-scale breakdown of social trust between individuals in neoliberal societies Front Matter....Pages i-x Trust, Risk and Framing Contemporary Childhood....Pages 1-34 ‘Worthy’ vs ‘Unworthy’ Children: Images of Childhood through Time....Pages 35-54 Our Children and Other People’s: Childhood in the Age of Distrust....Pages 55-91 Commercializing Distrust: Framing Juveniles in the News....Pages 92-148 ‘Every Parent’s Worst Nightmare’: The Abduction of April Jones....Pages 149-209 Strangers No More: Towards Reconstructing Trust....Pages 210-224 Back Matter....Pages 225-254