In the space of one week, there were two news stories that were, while not exactly identical in content, had similar casts of important characters. Each involved young teenagers, parents and figures of authority in chaotic scenes that have sparked the interests of the media and the common people alike.
The first one, ‘Blitz on teen crime in the city highlights drinking and violence’, was written by Kim Arlington and published in the April 4, 2011 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald. It tells the story of how the police blitz on alcohol related behaviour in the city has struck a goldmine of delinquent youths, trolling the streets at night with bottle in hand and violent temper at heart. The story opens with, “They thought their children were at the movies or a friend's place - until they were contacted by police following a blitz on under-age drinking and children at risk in central Sydney.” In addition to the tonality making it sound as though all teenagers are supposed to be like the ones right out of the Sound of Music, the story immediately invokes the parental angle. It is this particular feature which I would like to discuss at further length.
Another story, from the exact same publication on the same day, was a story entitled ‘Parents arrested after clash at children's soccer match’ by Jen Rosenberg. What this story was about, was two parents at a children’s club soccer match in the western suburbs engaging in an open brawl with the coach of, quite remarkably, their own team for not giving their children enough game time. It went from screaming match, to pushing to a scene involving folded armchairs, scissors and an audience of bystanders and the very children who looked up to these ‘adults’. Whilst the sheer insanity of this scene would make it immediately newsworthy as an instance of violence, the high billing it received was, in my opinion, largely due to the involvement of both parents and children within the same story.
Using a list of components of newsworthiness compiled by Jewkes (2004) it would appear that ‘Threshold’, ‘Violence’, ‘Children’ and ‘Conservative ideology’ are all apparent in the two stories, and yet there seems to be something missing amongst all these classifications. There is just something inherent in any story in which deviance of some dramatic threshold can be linked to the parent-child duopoly that makes it all the more fascinating; perhaps it is because we can all, in some way or another, relate to the story or even judge the people within it. I know I certainly smirked at the thought of helpless intoxicated youths being heaved down the road by sober grown men twice their size. Or perhaps it is because there is a certain innocence associated with parent and child relations that is beyond the comprehension of words or logic. Whatever it is, there is something about linking criminal deviance with the family unit that is inherently fascinating to us. How many of us know of the ‘Ibrahim Crime Family’ or ‘Moran Crime Family’, whilst knowing very little about the individual members? Whatever the reason, these types of stories, of mischievous kids and deadbeat dads, or mums, will fascinate us for a long time.
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| Maybe not always newsworthy... |
References:
Arlington, K, 2011. Blitz on teen crime in the city highlights drinking and violence. Sydney Morning Herald, 04 April. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/blitz-on-teen-crime-in-the-city-highlights-drinking-and-violence-20110403-1ct9b.html#ixzz1Nl5urcI2 [Accessed 05 April 11].
Jewkes, Y, 2004. The construction of crime news. 1st ed. London: Sage.
Rosberg, K, 2011. Parents arrested after clash at children’s soccer match. Sydney Morning Herald, 04 April. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/parents-arrested-after-clash-at-childrens-soccer-match-20110403-1ct9d.html#ixzz1Nl6h5pio [Accessed 05 April 11]
