Legal and Ethical issues

Hypodermic Needle Theory

• Theorises that audiences are essentially passive, and will readily absorb messages relayed to them by the media
• This means that after watching a violent horror film, or playing a POV shooter, audience members will be negatively influenced
• This presupposes that audiences are passive active (they make sense of the media message through personal and social contexts)

Moral Panic and Folk Devils

• In 1992, Stanley Cohen developed a moral panic theory, this encompassed ideas of folk devils in society

Moral Panic:

• When 'a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests'
• His research was based on the mods and rockers in the 1960s, but have since been applied to the media

The stages of moral panic:

1. Someone, something or a group are defined as a threat to social norms or community interests
2. The threat is then depicted in a simple and recognisable symbol/form by the media
3. The portrayal of this symbol rouses public concern
4. There is a response from authorities and policy makers
5. The moral panic over the issue results in social changes within the community