Satanic panic : discourse on metal and morality in Lebanese television -

Abstract

This study examines the media discourse on non-normative subgroups in Lebanon, and how their social construction as folk devils can lead to a moral panic. Lebanese media’s juxtaposition of metal music, drugs, and demon worship, and the marginalization of the metal scene, is drawn on as a case in point. A critical discourse analysis (CDA) is used to determine the ideological frames employed in Lebanese news reports and evening socio-political programmes that have discussed metal fans, and whether they are given folk devil status. The social and religious political context of Lebanon is considered, as is ‘moral’ regulation and its relationship to power. This research has implications for the understanding of how the Lebanese media treat and regulate sub-groups and their ‘deviance.’