Media Event and Contemporary Media - An Analysis

Studies in Visual Communication, 1980

Critics of broadcasting argue that it has robbed society of the sense of occasion. People used to dress up to go out, the critics say, and now they stay in to watch television only half-dressed and half-awake. The arts that brought people togetherwhether popular or highbrow-were associated with time and place and community, marking the passing of seasons, the boundaries between sacred and secular, and the structure of society. Now television provides culture nonstop, with nothing more than station breaks and commercials to frame an experience in time, and only the living room and the family to frame it spatially and socially. The dim awareness that everybody else is viewing the same programs surely does something to hold society together, but the sense of occasion-especially that of communal occasion-has been dulled. This is not a judgment on the quality of television programs, it must be emphasized, but on their ubiquity. Like all generalizations about the atomizing, secularizing, and tranquilizing effects of broadcasting, this one too deserves more careful formulation. It is unlikely, first of all, that the media alone are to blame for the decline of the folk arts; all the pressures of modernization have had a share. 2 Moreover, the professional performing arts seem to be flourishing; some people do go out. 3 And as for occasions, the media are often at their best on holidays, such as Independence Day or Christmas, when high standards of performance are combined with a sense of festivity and a nostalgia for tradition. 4 There is another sense, too, in which the media break the sun-never-sets pattern which they themselves have created. This history of broadcasting is punctuated with a series of programs which are so memorable that they captivated the attention of a nation or of the world. People dressed up to see them, and invited their friends to join them in listening or viewing. The tenth anniversary of the moon landing brings this genre of broadcasting to mind. Generically, the broadcasts are known as media events-though that is an ambiguous and overworked term. I call them the "high holidays" of the media. Each of them, for a brief moment, restored the sense of occasion to a society or to the world, and some of them may have had lasting effects. I should like to recall these events, and to discuss them in this paper. They include the moon landings; the visit of Sadat to Jerusalem; the weekend of mourning following the assassination of Kennedy; the coronation of Elizabeth II; the presidential debates of 1960 and 1976; and certain sporting events. 5 Each nation will have its own list, although the number of such events is remarkably small. Occasionally, we get a glimpse of the potential of such an event which is denied us: the visit of Pope John Paul II to Poland, for example, or the Moscow Olympics.

Studies in Visual Communication, 1980

Critics of broadcasting argue that it has robbed society of the sense of occasion. People used to dress up to go out, the critics say, and now they stay in to watch television only half-dressed and half-awake. The arts that brought people togetherwhether popular or highbrow-were associated with time and place and community, marking the passing of seasons, the boundaries between sacred and secular, and the structure of society. Now television provides culture nonstop, with nothing more than station breaks and commercials to frame an experience in time, and only the living room and the family to frame it spatially and socially. The dim awareness that everybody else is viewing the same programs surely does something to hold society together, but the sense of occasion-especially that of communal occasion-has been dulled. This is not a judgment on the quality of television programs, it must be emphasized, but on their ubiquity. Like all generalizations about the atomizing, secularizing, and tranquilizing effects of broadcasting, this one too deserves more careful formulation. It is unlikely, first of all, that the media alone are to blame for the decline of the folk arts; all the pressures of modernization have had a share. 2 Moreover, the professional performing arts seem to be flourishing; some people do go out. 3 And as for occasions, the media are often at their best on holidays, such as Independence Day or Christmas, when high standards of performance are combined with a sense of festivity and a nostalgia for tradition. 4 There is another sense, too, in which the media break the sun-never-sets pattern which they themselves have created. This history of broadcasting is punctuated with a series of programs which are so memorable that they captivated the attention of a nation or of the world. People dressed up to see them, and invited their friends to join them in listening or viewing. The tenth anniversary of the moon landing brings this genre of broadcasting to mind. Generically, the broadcasts are known as media events-though that is an ambiguous and overworked term. I call them the "high holidays" of the media. Each of them, for a brief moment, restored the sense of occasion to a society or to the world, and some of them may have had lasting effects. I should like to recall these events, and to discuss them in this paper. They include the moon landings; the visit of Sadat to Jerusalem; the weekend of mourning following the assassination of Kennedy; the coronation of Elizabeth II; the presidential debates of 1960 and 1976; and certain sporting events. 5 Each nation will have its own list, although the number of such events is remarkably small. Occasionally, we get a glimpse of the potential of such an event which is denied us: the visit of Pope John Paul II to Poland, for example, or the Moscow Olympics.

Sociology Compass, 2014

ABSTRACT

Television & New Media, 2017

Towards hybrid media events of terrorist violence? Media, Event and Terror In the post 9/11 era, collective, mediated imaginations in the West have been formed around a dichotomous perception of enemitiesenmities between the supporters of the free world and the Islamic terrorists that who are seen as threats to the Western values of democracy, freedom of speech and liberty. This media narrative, epitomized in acts of violence marked as terror, has permeated an awareness of thethe consciousness of a global audience and has stirred extensive public reaction in the global media. In this special section, we set out to study how these type kinds of globally, disruptive incidents of violence-marked-as-acts of terror become events in today's digital media environment; and what does this media-saturated eventization event-making impliesy as we try to interpret those forceful actions and theirthe historical, cultural, social and political significance of these actions in to our contemporary and digital lives. In this introduction, we wish to review some of the early debates in theorizing the relationship between terror, media and event. We take our inspiration from the work of Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz (1992), and suggest a certain new conceptual ideas to further develop ourbetter understanding of the dynamics of the present-day media spectacles of terrorist violence. One of the key starting points in unfolding the dynamics between terror, media and event in the present world is the book Media Events. : The Live Broadcasting of History (1992) written by Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz. In that book tThe authors Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz introduce the idea of media event as a special genre (including 'coronations', 'contests' and 'conquests') that is powerful enough to interrupt the everyday media flow (with its 'coronations', 'contests' and 'conquests'), bringing the TV viewers into in touch with society's central values, and

2008

Media studies is an interdisciplinary field. It draws elements from established disciplines like history, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, linguistics, and literature. It also overlaps with newer disciplines and interdisciplines like cultural studies, popular cultural studies, film studies, American studies, journalism, communication, speech communication, education, and ethnomusicology. Keeping this in mind, editor Angharad Valdivia mentions in the introduction to the book, ''A Companion to Media Studies intends to provide a broad overview to a generalist academic audience of the dynamic interdiscipline of Media Studies.'' The very breadth of the field however makes it harder to define media studies as a discipline. A Companion to Media Studies with its broad mix of essays written on various topics by major scholars from around the world-who have discussed the theories and methodologies that have brought media studies to its current place and who have also suggested directions for future research-serves as a good vantage point for media studies research.

Television & New Media, 2017

In this interview, Professor Daniel Dayan provides a philosophical and theoretical reflection on the development of media event theory and its influence in media and communication studies since 1990s. He reveals the main theoretical premises and inspirations behind the theory and provides a thoughtful reflection of the historical situation in which the theory was developed. The latter part of the interview observes the present day terrorist violence in the framework of media event theory.

Citeseer

Media, Culture & Society, 2017

Introduction to the Special Section on the 25th anniversary of the publication of Daniel Dayan’s and Elihu Katz’s Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History.

Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 2019