A Delicious Blend of Media Events

How do we define the size of an event? Is it the amount of people that attend? The amount of money it expends? The number of casualties that result? Maybe even the physical size of the occasion? One way we can think about it is the amount of media it commands to communicate it. The idea of the media event is one described by Hepp and Couldry: “media events are certain …performances of mediated communication that are focused on a specific thematic core, cross different media products and reach a wide and diverse multiplicity of audiences and participants”[1]. When an event is of such importance that it requires the spread of the news of the event through various medium such as television, internet, radio, etc., we see it not only aids in the globalization process, but even the way we perceive the event, its circumstances, and its importance.

9/11 was, arguably, the defining media event of this century. With coverage worldwide, the attack on the world trade center stirred controversy across the globe. I feel we can all agree this was a defining point in not only the US, but world history. More interestingly, however, is the impact the media coverage had on the perception we have of the event. The rapid spread of the news hit many of us before we were even able to actually see the coverage of it on TV, and yet a majority of people are still able to associate the moment we learned of it with the first time we saw the footage of the first plane hitting the north tower. Although these were two separate instances, the immense blow of media hitting us from all sides, on every channel, on every radio, has September 11th forever burned onto our minds. I, myself, was in school when i learned of the attack, and yet, whenever I am reminded of 9/11, I playback the footage in my mind of the event on Fox news and my teacher announcing it simultaneously. This, unlike a regular event that is simply reported by the media, such as a local murder, in which i would only imagine the quick report of the event, is of enough significance that the line between personal experience and media coverage is extremely blurred, and almost becomes a grey area in which the two are combined.

[1] Couldry, Nick, Hepp, Andreas, and Krotz, Friedrich. Media Events in a Global Age. London, New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.