Media coverage of football hooliganism

Football hooliganism can be seen as something of an easy target' for the media. With journalists present at every match across the country, the chances of a story being missed are slim. TV cameras also mean that disturbances within stadiums are caught on video. Since the 1960s, in fact, journalists have been sent to football matches to report on crowd behaviour, rather than just the game.

The British tabloid press in particular have an enthusiastic' approach to the reporting of soccer violence, with sensationalist headlines such as "Smash These Thugs!", "Murder on a Soccer Train!" (Sun), "Mindless Morons" and "Savages! Animals!" (Daily Mirror).

Whilst open condemnation of hooligans is the norm across the media, it has been argued that this sensationalist style of reporting presents football violence as far more of a concern than it actually is, elevating it to a major social problem'. The problem of press sensationalism was recognised in the 1978 Report on Public Disorder and Sporting Events, carried out by the Sports Council and Social Science Research Council.

It observed that:

"It must be considered remarkable, given the problems of contemporary Britain, that football hooliganism has received so much attention from the Press. The events are certainly dramatic, and frightening for the bystander, but the outcome in terms of people arrested and convicted, people hurt, or property destroyed is negligible compared with the number of people potentially involved."

Furthermore, some critics argue that media coverage of hooliganism has actually contributed to the problem . More recently, the popular press has been criticised for it's pre-match reporting during the 1996 European Championships.

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