Blog

15 august 2011, masses media

A week on, and the riots are decidedly over. They finished on wednesday. They didn't peter out: on tuesday they raged their fiercest outside the capital, yet the day after not a whimper anywhere. There were three reasons. Firstly, there were 16, 000 police on london's streets; secondly the polical class and prime minister came home from holidays and took to the airwaves; and thirdly the rain was absolutely pouring down: we brought out the manchester water cannon. Though the third may well be the most important on the night, what the other two have in common was that they changed the narrative, as carried by the mass media. On saturday, the pictures were of riot, and so on sunday, as they spread, all stops were out to protect public order. What actually happened though was looting, as the image the media was transmitting was one where shops were not being protected; directly transmitted pictures were of windows being broken and goods being taken. That set the tone for next days: people were taking things, leading a growing number of people to questions whether they couldn't too. On tuesday though, the pictures were of an endless stream of police coming into the capital: tonight's not the night was the message. More subtly, rioters' photographs were being circulated and cases were coming to court, relaying that people were getting caught and punished. It may sound trite but the sudden return of the politicians too had an effect. No-one may have listened to the words, but their presence said action, control, authority, order being restored. Together, that killed the whole movement, dead. The key to all that was the mass media. It was the media than enabled it and the media that stopped it, because media today is so pervasive and it has an almost sensient ability for people to feel the atmosphere and react accordingly. On phones, tvs and blackberrys, people felt it and reacted accordingly. Given its variety and dynamism, using the media to define and relay messages is harder than ever - but no less important. Ironically, malcolm x knew this years ago, calling it "the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."