There’s no glamour in glue: News and the symbolic framing of substance misuse

Abstract

The symbolism of substance misuse is a familiar theme. However, relatively little attention has been paid specifically to the nature of the symbolic frameworks through which substance misuse is represented and even less attention to the part played by the news media in the reproduction of these symbolic frameworks. This article takes volatile substance abuse (VSA) and ecstasy as examples through which to explore the ways in which news production processes, together with the symbolic and inferential frameworks employed by journalists, intersect with structures of disadvantage, to reproduce particular news discourses or ways of understanding substance misuse. It suggests that VSA receives very little attention in the United Kingdom national press in comparison to 'spectacular', or 'glamorous' drugs such as ecstasy, despite the evidence available that VSA represents a problem of, at least, equivalent magnitude, if recorded associated annual deaths are taken as the measures of 'seriousness'. It is suggested that significantly different symbolic frameworks are deployed in national newspapers to represent the 'problems' associated with VSA and ecstasy, and that these differences are explicable in terms of the cultural assumptions and inferential frameworks underpinning news production, together with news source activity, and the marketing strategies of newspapers in an era of intensified news commodification.

The relationship between drug use stigma and HIV injection risk behaviors among injection drug users in Chennai, India

“…In the media, drug users are often negatively portrayed (Boyd, 2002; Manning, 2006). Labeling drug user with a deviant social status may serve to discourage illicit drug use.…”

Methamphetamine Discourse: Media, Law, and Policy

“…A number of other theorists also brought our attention to news media representations of illegal drugs (Chiricos, 2006;Coomber, Morris, & Dunn, 2000;Gomez, 1997;Goode, 2008;Greaves, Varcoe, Poole, Morrow, Johnson, Pederson, & Irwin, 2002;Humphries, 1999;Manning, 2006;Reinarman & Duskin, 1999;Reinarman & Levine, 1997a, 1997bTaylor, 2008;Cohen & Young, 1981). Reinarman & Levine's (1997a, 1997b research, in particular, argued that U.S. news media offer narrow representations of drugs, drug use, selling, and criminal justice responses, and these media also attempt to shape public opinion about crime, especially drug crime.…”

Mapping Trajectories of Attention to Drug Related Issues in Estonian Main Dailies

“…When studying media coverage on drugs scholars have often focused on representations of different substances (e.g. Sznitman & Lewis, 2015;EMCDDA, 2005;Manning, 2006). The author of this article does not concentrate on different substances, but instead focuses on the coverage of different social problems induced by (or attendant to) illicit substances and their use (e.g.…”

“…Qualitative studies concentrating on some significant case have been rather commonplace (McArthur, 1999;Lawrence et al, 1999;Elliott & Chapman, 2000). Scientists have often blamed the media for the sensational, biased and one-sided angle characteristic of their drug accounts which could exert a disorienting effect on the public perception of the issue (Craig, 1981;Murji, 1998;Chermak, 1997;Manning, 2006;Noto et al, 2006;Bright et al, 2008;Taylor, 2008). Only some scholars have concentrated on changes in media coverage of drug issues (e.g.…”

“…Many scientists have analyzed the context, in which illegal drugs have been represented in the media as well as the prevalent attitudes regarding drug use (e.g. Törrönen, 2004;Manning, 2006;Bright et al, 2008;Hellman, 2010;Hughes et al, 2010). Other researchers have focused on the interconnections between media coverage, public opinion and public policies (Shoemaker et al, 1989;Deseran & Orcutt, 2009).…”