Moral Panics

The 2013 'Heatwave'
In July 2013, temperatures began to rise above what is normally expected of Britain in the summer. We had very little rain and a lot of dry weather, leading the media to worry people.
Reports started as far back as the 20th May, with one Metro article claiming that by 2080, hot summers would turn London into an 'island of death' due the concentrated nature of buildings creating unbearably hot conditions.
However, throughout the majority of July, newspapers sensationalized the heat, turning it into something very scary; "500 could die as heatwave temperatures rocket to 33C" and warnings of forest fires sparked by the heatwave in Epping forest, with the North York moors facing "tinderbox conditions" due to the utter lack of precipitation. Tens of thousands of fish around the country also died, prompting sites such as the BBC News site to offer links to their audience to explain to them how to save ailing pond life.
As the heatwave settled in and people began to enjoy actually having a summer for once, Tesco raised the price of their own brand two-litre bottled still water from 18p to 24p, prompting outrage across news outlets, accusing the supermarket giant of "shameless profiteering" in the face of the heatwave.
There were many loose estimates made over the numbers of people who would perish throughout the month; "a hundred people could have died", "extreme heat sparks fears that hundreds of deaths are likely to occur", "the heatwave could have killed over 1000 people".
The Express personified the weather, branding it "humid, oppressive and uncomfortable". The news outlet also blamed the weather for rising numbers of divorce enquiries - "arguments heat up - as the temperatures rise so do divorce enquiries", as well as for the slowing down of house price growth.

This is an example of a moral panic, as detailed by Stan Cohen in his book "Folk Devils and Moral Panics". When in Clacton, he witnessed the infamous clashes between the Mods and Rockers, and noticed a difference between what he had seen with his own eyes and the stories published by the media.
A moral panic is a story or issue that is over-exaggerated by the media to make it seem to be a social problem and something that needs to be 'sorted out', prompting leagues of moral crusaders who claim that something needs to be done about the terror sweeping the country.