BBC & The London Riots

Riots fuelled by the death of Mark Duggan after he was shot by police after being dragged from a mini cab he was travelling.  There is no definitive answer as to whether he was lawfully killed or not. The police say that they shot him to defend themselves as he was holding a gun, whilst his family insist he would not have shot the police. Different media formats have portrayed the two sides, with a certain biased opinion which labels the rioting youths as thugs.

• BBC News - mainly linear footage of the fires, the attacks on the properties etc. They also include some interviews with those who have been closely affected by the riots to emphasise on the negative emotions which have resulted from the riots, which adds a sense of realism. No opposing opinions however are aired as the news mediates the idea that it is all the fault of youthful thugs.
• Interview with Darcus Howe - televised interview with the BBC - he was chosen as he was a writer and broadcaster living in the affected areas, so he had authority. He was a black man, and once he began to give the opinion that he believed it was only a matter of time that the riots happened, the news then took control and began to belittle him, trying to put the idea across that he himself was a rioter. Overall, the news has complete control over people, even during a live interview, as they can speak over and turn the opinion against them. The however, if it hadn't have been lie, would not have been televised and certain sections would have been cut to manipulate the idea that Darcus was against the riots and the ideologies behind it.
• Sky News also reported the news of the riots with the opinions of four teenagers - as young as 16 - who had been involved in the riots. Unlike the BBC, this particular interview included footage of the teens defending themselves, giving a reason as to why they felt it was acceptable for them to act in the riots. They blamed the government for increasing university fees and not giving enough support to single parents, whilst they only cared for the higher end of society - the rich and the famous. Despite the fact that the teens knew this would make them more identifiable by the police, they still wanted to give the interview as they felt it was there only chance to voice their opinions. Before the interview was broadcast, the feature described that many of the stolen loot would be on the black market by now, and the majority of offenders were existing gang members - there is no evidence to suggest these comments are true, as quite frankly, there is no way for them to have found this out, thus showing again a negative opinion which the media are trying to feed into us.
• Majority of people featured within all of the news videos are young males, with only one amateur  video reflecting on the female rioters, whose only comments were on how they stole alchol and continued to drink it through the early hours of the morning. The news do not report on the females involved as they see them as the minority, and it would be even more shameful for women to be involved as opposed to men. 
• America's reports on the riots were much more focussed, with one CNN video showing a young, black British male questioning Boris Johnson over why the government is not doing enough to help the youths of London, showing Boris to be speechless - this was clearly a home-video that CNN have asked to use, whereas the official news reporters in the background would probably not have let this go to broadcast without it being edited to be less diminishing.

Self-representation:

• Following the riots, many of the people involved went on to publish there on videos to YouTube depicting their thoughts and opinions, as such ideas wouldn't have been broadcast on television.