London Riots Analysis

In 2011, London faced four days of rioting and looting involving the community and police force. For many, the riots started because of the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham on the 4th of August 2011 but escalated to surrounding boroughs and major cities in the UK. The media reported false accounting from the police, fuelling more anger into the riots. This essay critically assesses the disturbances in media and political discourse from the interpretations that reveals the new cultural deficit of the 'underclass' and the inefficiencies from the police and schools.
It is indisputable that the key incident which sparked the riots was the acceptance by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) of the false accountings made by the
The London riots became an immediate media event on the television news with 24-hour rolling coverage of burning buildings and vehicles, hooded youths and a carnival of hedonistic looting; this caused the coverage to give a very little understanding of the nature of the riots or how to address it. Due to the representations being exposed uncritically via 24-hours new coverage, tabloid newspapers and social media sites, the opportunity of deviancy amplification, a threat to social values and moral panics
The 'Daily Mail' claimed Duggan was a 'violent gangster whose death sparked the 2011 riots' and 'was considered to be one of Britain's most violent gangsters who was linked to ten shootings and two murders'. There was no evidence to prove this. A picture of Duggan standing next to his daughters grave, holding a little plaque was published in both the 'Daily Mail' and 'Daily Mirror' but the picture had been edited and cropped to portray him as a