INEQ Talk Journalism's Moral Panic about Conspiracy Theories | University of Helsinki
helsinki.fi
Before dismissing conspiracy theories as pure irrationality, this Helsinki lecture asks whether journalism's own moral panic about them reveals more about elite knowledge gatekeeping than about truth.
Moral Panic TheoryEpistemic InjusticeKnowledge GatekeepingSocial Constructionism
Theory Briefing
- Journalism routinely frames conspiracy theories as irrational and anti-democratic, but this Inequality Talk challenges that consensus as a moral panic.
- Moral panic theory exposes how media amplify social threats to reinforce dominant norms — and conspiracy coverage fits the pattern almost perfectly.
- The lecture links conspiracy discourse to inequality, suggesting who gets labeled a 'conspiracy theorist' tracks social and epistemic power divides.