The British tabloid press is known to be a bit over the top in it's reporting, but never was it so sensationalistic as when acid house hit the UK in the late 80s—an infamous, and influential time period dubbed by many as the "Second Summer of Love."This small portion of a report by the BBC in 1988 shows just how out of hand things got, with the reporter calling it "A sinister evil cult which lures young people into drug taking."The clips goes on to show man-on-the-street interviews with honest, god-fearing Englishmen (and mums), who repeat what they read in the papers to the news cameras, reinforcing the propaganda as fact. The report then goes on to interview acid house correspondent Ted Heinz of Sunday People (nowThe Mirror), who makes salacious implications about the connection between money, party promoters and "drug barons, pushers, peddlers…" before the clip abruptly ends.The vintage computer terminals in Heinz newsroom, along with his awesome 80s hair, make it seems as though such uninformed fear-mongering is a relic of the past. Unfortunately, as some recent reporting has demonstrated, there are still plenty of reporters who won't let the facts get in the way of a good smear.
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