First coined by Jock Young (1971) and, later, Stanley Cohen (1972)

Evidence

Moral Panic - Library at University of Wisconsin-Parkside (University of Wisconsin-Parkside)

corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
XREF: connects to: Folktales can escalate into moral panics in troubled times. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 77; The phrase ‘moral panic’ was first used by Jock Young in 1971, but Cohen notes inspiration from Marshall McLuhan’s work on media. — Moral Panic: A Concept Adrift — University Ethics Observatory; Jock Young pioneered the concept in 1971, rejected it by 1980, and began using it again from the late 1990s — See also YoungTC.pdf - City Research Online (+3 more)

The phrase ‘moral panic’ was first used by Jock Young in 1971, but Cohen notes inspiration from Marshall McLuhan’s work on media. (similarity 0.93)
Jock Young pioneered the concept in 1971, rejected it by 1980, and began using it again from the late 1990s (similarity 0.88)
Both Young and Cohen may have been influenced by the brief appearance of the term in Marshall McLuhan’s 1964 book Understanding Media. (similarity 0.87)
The term was coined by Stanley Cohen in his 1973 book Folk Devils and Moral Panics. (similarity 0.84)
Moral panic is a widespread fear that some evil person or thing threatens the values of a community, first theorized by Stanley Cohen in 1972. (similarity 0.83)
The term ‘moral panic’ experienced a significant rise in media usage. (similarity 0.83)
Cohen (1972, p. 9) defined moral panic as a condition where a group emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests, presented in a stylized way by mass media. (similarity 0.79)
Folk Devils and Moral Panics is a 1972 sociology book by Stanley Cohen — the first book to define the social concept. (similarity 0.79)