The Coverage of Lone-Parents in British Newspapers

Abstract

This article presents a systematic content analysis of coverage of lone-parents in 1993 and 1997 in the British press and examines other acts of deviance and their coverage by the media to produce moral panics.It also analyses models and criteria of moral panics, and relates these to the media coverage of lone-parents in Britain.Cohen argues as early as 1972 that a moral panic occurs as people become aware of a specific group as a result of media coverage.Public concern is expressed for ways of dealing with the group.The media and the public call for increased controls by the authorities.In Britain the increased number of lone-parent families has given rise to both political and media concern over the recent past and formed a significant factor in the 'Back to Basics' morality drive of the Conservatives and the public worries of the Blair's 'Cool-Britannia' New Labour.However, although there is a considerable interest from politicians and coverage in newspapers about the lone-parent family , there has been no empirical studies carried out about the nature of this portrayal.Although the previous Tory government under Mrs Thatcher had expressed some concern over the need to return to 'Victorian values', the government under John Major took up the issue more deliberately.In 1993, various government ministers issued statements to the effect that traditional family values were under attack, and at the annual party conference John Major used the term, 'Back to Basics'.This viewpoint was clearly expressed in the verse of Peter Lilley, Social Security Minister, at the Tory Party Conference in 1992: I've got a little list, of benefit offenders, who never will be missed.No they never will be missed.There's young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue...

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