London Riots - August 2011

The London Riots started after Mark Duggan was shot by a police officer, as they thought he was armed. The riots initially started off as a demonstration against the killing of Mark Duggan but it turned violent and spread across London and even to other cities such as Birmingham.

The Media;
 
The representation of youth during the London Riots by the news was entirely negative in terms of how they looked down on the youth. They were represented in a violent, careless way similar to the films Sket and Ill Manors. This representation plays on stereotypes, for example the fact that they are from east London and are Working Class. What differs between the films and the coverage of the riots is that the films show gang violence and stabbings, attacks on each other etc whereas the riots focus more on the destruction of property.
Although the riots started as a reaction to Mark Duggans death, the news said that in the end the rioting was just done with no reason behind it, which was how the police and government also portrayed it to be entirely the thought of youths, hence giving them an even worse name. Although the news did show some interviews with youths and others who expressed reasons behind why they looted and took part in the riots  - such as Sky News and BBC - they did make them seem stupid and still shift the blame onto them.

This interview from Sky News with four youths involved in the riots does show them telling the reasons why they think that the riots happened, and how it can be stopped  which is nothing to do with the killing of Mark Duggan, but because the poor way the government treats youths and takes away their opourtunities. This contrasts with the views of the government and police who were saying that it was all just done for no reason at all and just a demonstration that spiralled out of control. Although they are showing their views, they are also looking down on them and still blaming them effectively. This was done strongly by using stereotypes. For example, one of the looters says how he is 16 and a dad. This gives an immediate image of what you expect from him and expect him to behave and live like. Although this is reported by Sky News, they step back from it a bit at the end where they say how the four guys interviewed will most likely get in trouble with the police as they gave a lot of information away.