"The Killing Field": Themes in Mass Media Responses to the Heysel Stadium Riot

Abstract

Although this paper is specifically concerned with themes in (largely British and North American) mass media responses to an isolated sports event, the Heysel stadium riot of May, 1985, its more general purpose is to discuss the process of 'social reaction' as structured in and through the mass media. A content analysis of the Heysel riot demonstrates how the construction of imagery and definition, and the labelling of deviant behaviour on the part of the mass media can assist in establishing the 'reality' around which the problem of spectator violence is generally understood and discussed. Common themes and techniques characterizing the 'violent spectator' report are brought out and categorized into a model of reporting styles. In order to explain these processes, arguments are made using the sociological concepts of 'deviancy amplification' and 'moral panic'.