1. Overview of contemporary case study
what were the context of the riots ??On 4 August 2011, a police officer shot and killed 29-year-old Mark Duggan during an attempt to arrest him, the incident occured on the Ferry Lane bridge. It is not yet known why police were attempting to arrest Duggan, but the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said that the planned arrest was part of Operation Trident, which investigates gun crime within the black community. The incident had been referred to the IPCC, which is standard practice if death or serious injury follows police contact.On 6 August a protest was held, initially peacefully, beginning at Broadwater Farm and finishing at Tottenham police station. The protest was organised by friends and relatives of Duggan to demand justice for the family and for Duggans death. The protest began to escalate on a much larger scale in which a large amount of youths took part in the gathering. Rioting occurred shortly after about 120 people marched from the Broadwater Farm estate to Tottenham Police Station.The group of some 200 people demanded that a senior local police officer come out to speak to them. They stayed in front of the police station hours longer than they originally planned because they were not satisfied with the seniority of the officers available at the time. A younger and more aggressive crowd arrived at the scene around dusk, some carrying weapons. Further violence broke out based on an allegation that the police had attacked a 16-year-old girl and on the night of the 6 August disturbances began to occur which spiraled out of control becoming the start of the riots.

what were the reasons given as to why the youths were involved in the riots?? Many different reasons were given as to why the looting occured. The riots in Tottenham after the death of Mark Duggan were initially blamed on poor relations between the police and the black community.^[Some stated that it was a race issue due to the fact that Duggan was black and had been shot by the police, people began to state that the inequality of black and white youths were unfair towards the police. The initial act of the murder braught up a long lasting debate of the inequality of youths which was the last straw which a certain amount of individuals where prepared to stand for in which they . In a House of Commons debate on the riots Home Secretary Theresa May stated that the riots were symptomatic of a "wider malaise" including worklessness, illiteracy, and drug abuse but also stated that "Everybody, no matter what their background or circumstances, has the freedom to choose between right and wrong".Some thought the riots were a defence in order to retaliate towards the police and push boundries with a system they thought was unfair in order to use extreme conditions to get their point across. Some youths looted  purely for selfish purposes in order to steal and gain expensive items when in a state of poverty purely because they could get away with it without getting caught at the time.

were the youths given a fair and unbiased representation in the press coverage of the riots?? The mojority of the news coverage given towards the riots were biased towards the police and showed youths in a negative light. The use of language used by reporters and footage of youths helps create this constructed image that youths are aggressive parts of the community though this view is not totally true as some had not taken part in the riots at all and others had valid reasons as to why they decided to riot. The press tend to show footage of the police doing their job correctly and holding authority, landscapes destroyed such as cars on fire and youths showing aggressive behaviour which overall shows youths in a biased negative light as offenders going against athority and shockingly destroying the community to viewers.

2.Applying theory
how can the coverage of the london riots be understood in relation to the idea of stan cohen? The riots show signs of stan cohens theory by having divients who go against society and act as folk devils causing moral panic by their actions given. The youths were able to go against the way they had been culturally constructed to be like and rebel against society by organising gangs to meet up on Facebook during the riots and contacting each other through bbm. They also were able to commit acts they knew were wrong as they were capable of doing so and knew that at the time there was no boundry to stop them.

David Gauntlett stated that "identities are not given but are constructed and negotiated"
from the research which you have conducted into the coverage of the London riots to what extent is the representation of the collective identity of youths constructed by the press? consider for and against the argument. David Gauntlett states that identity is constructed by the media which within the London riots is argueably shown. Alot of the coverage given by all types of media during the riots were seen as negative. Youths were seen as arragant and aggressive generally when given the chance to speak, though the majority of the time the footage was centred around the aftermath of the destructure or interviews from police or adults. Rarely interviews were shown from youths who spoke of the actual issues which were the problem e.g ema and being distant from the community however more from youths who are bad representations of youths. Only showing this side to youths shows a constructed view from the media of what they believe youths are which will create a bias view to the audience of the identity of youths.