An online presentation of the results of the study titled “Moral Panic and Portrayal of the LGBTI Community in the Media” will be held on 1 November 2022 in the period from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., on the Zoom platform, organized by the “Margini” Coalition. You can join the event via the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86253970233
What is a moral panic? What are the stages of its development? What are the causes and reasons for its beginning and what are the conditions in which it manages to maintain itself? And, most importantly, what are its consequences and how serious they can be? These are some of the issues that will be discussed.
The presentation of the results of the study “Moral Panic and Portrayal of the LGBTI Community in the Media” provides answers to these questions, examining the occurrence of this phenomenon in North Macedonia in the first half of 2021. The moral panic in the domestic context has been examined in relation to the changes in terms of education, which were connected with gender identity and sexuality and had a direct effect on the portrayal of the LGBTI persons.
Moral panic is a process in which a certain situation, episode, person or a group of people acquire the status of bearers of threats concerning certain vexing issues, such as those affecting: children, parents, family values and national identity. Amidst the moral panic, these are labeled as enemies that create fear in the public. As a result, individuals provoke the public to react, causing a social change that entails stigmatization and violence against the persons perceived as the instigators of the unwanted changes.
Due to the evolving nature of this phenomenon, the analysis follows the waves of moral panic from the point of defining the threat and the enemy, to the emergence of calls to action containing concrete diagnoses and solutions for removing the problem from the public space. The case study focuses on the role of media in creating a moral panic and on their responsibility in sharing news items related to the key issues that cause its emergence.
“Moral Panic and Portrayal of the LGBTI Community in the Media” is part of a larger research titled “Sexual Minorities, Gender and the Media: An Analysis of the Media Coverage of Topics Related to the LGBTI Community and Gender-Based Violence”, authored by Irena Cvetkovic [chief researcher], Manja Velichkovska and Elena Gagovska.
The findings of the analysis will be presented by the author of the case study, Manja Velichkovska, a writer, researcher and project assistant at the MARGINI Coalition.
The event will be realized by the MARGINI Coalition and is part of the programme of the Media Literacy Days 2022, organized by the Media Literacy Network. The entire programme of the 2022 MLD is available at www.mediumskapismenost.mk
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