Media circus
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Media circus describes a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype. The term is meant to critique the media by comparing it to a circus and, as such, is an idiom and not an objective observation. Media hype, orgy and frenzy are similar terms used in reference to a critique of news and entertainment media.
Although the idea is older, the term media circus began to appear around the mid 1970s. An early example is from the 1976 book by author Lynn Haney, in which she says "Their courtship, after all, had been a media circus".[1] A few years later The Washington Post had a similar courtship example in when it said "Princess Grace herself is still traumatized by the memory of her own media-circus wedding to Prince Rainier in 1956."[2] The term has become increasingly popular with time since the 1970s.
Reasons for being critical of the media are as varied as the people who use the term. However, at the core of most criticism is that there may be a significant opportunity cost when other more important news issues get less public attention as a result of coverage of the hyped issue.
Media circus is the central plot device in the 1951 movie Ace in the Hole about a self-interested reporter covering a mine disaster, it cynically examines the relationship between the media and the news it reports. It was originally called The Big Carnival, with "carnival" referring to what we now call a "circus".
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[edit] Examples
Events described as a media circus include:
- In the United States:
- David Gelman, Peter Greenberg, et al in Newsweek on January 31, 1977: "Brooklyn born photographer and film producer Lawrence Schiller managed to make himself the sole journalist to witness the execution of Gary Gilmore in Utah....In the Gilmore affair, he was like a ringmaster in what became a media circus, with sophisticated newsmen scrambling for what he had to offer."[3]
- The Blizzard of '96 (1996). "...this storm ...so hyped by the media in the same way that the O.J. Simpson trial became hyped as the "Trial of the Century." (Elizabeth Davis, The Daily Beacon, January 12 1996).[1]
- The trial of Martha Stewart (2004). "The stone-faced Stewart never broke stride as she cut a path through the media circus." (Newsweek, "Martha's Fall", March 15 2005 [2]).
- In Australia:
- The Beaconsfield Mine collapse "Media circus comes digging for gold", Sydney Morning Herald, May 4, 2006.
[edit] References
- ^ Lynn Haney (1976). Chris Evert, the Young Champion.
- ^ Washington Post B1, June 29, 1978. This is the oldest quote the Oxford English Dictionary has listed, although obviously there are older occurrences.
- ^ Gelman, David, Greenberg, Peter S. et al, "Ringmaster at the circus," Newsweek. New York: Jan. 31, 1977. Vol.89, Iss. 5; pg. 77. Source type: Periodical. ISSN: 00289604. ProQuest document ID: 1098541. Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1098541&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=76566&RQT=309&VName=PQD (subscription) retrieved Dec. 20, 2006
[edit] See also
- Media event
- Cause célèbre
- Trial by media
- Sensationalism
- Media scrum
- Missing white woman syndrome
- Deviancy amplification spiral
- Journalism
- Propaganda
- Popular culture
- It's Not News, It's FARK: How Mass Media Tries to Pass off Crap as News
