| Abstract [eng] |
Mass media is usually presented as a civil society institution informing citizens about political, social, economic and other issues. From this standpoint, media’s interest in criminal justice, which maintains social control and is responsible for the safety of citizens, is quite natural. However it is also important to consider media’s political and commercial functions, since they have great impact on the nature of information about deviant acts. At the same time information received about deviant acts could affect certain societal responses towards this behavior. The extreme form of this social reaction is associated with the concept of moral panics (St. Cohen, J. Young). Moral panic is perceived as a disproportional and hostile social reaction to an issue defined as a threat to societal values, involving stereotypical media presentation and leading to demands for greater social control and creating a spiral of reaction. The aim of the presented work was to analyze the impact of mass media constructing moral panics towards drug problem. The analysis of the Lithuanian biggest news portal “Delfi” drug discourse, the attention paid by society, authorities and criminal justice institutions towards drug problem, indicated inadequacy with the indexes of drug use spread and negative outcomes during the examined period. Increased attention towards drug issue in Lithuanian society corresponded with five key characteristics of moral panics: disproportionality of reaction, measurable concern, hostility to the objects of the panic, widespread concern that the threat is real and volatility. |
