The reception of media events depicting pain, loss, triumph, resilience or any other aspect of life to which all humanity can relate, often elicits the construction of a “we”[1]. Statements like, “We sympathize with you” and “We are praying for you” were conveyed from people around the world in response to the earthquake in Haiti. In this era of globalization, media events like hurricane Katrina, the Chilean miners’ rescue, the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti can now be accessed well outside their geographies and followed by the citizenry of the world[2] almost immediately. It is quite tempting to think that all media events are about some kind of shared experience or events of a consensual nature, the kind of events that elicit a “we” .
In the book, Media Events in a Global Age(2009) , Dayan proposes the four characteristics of an “object” of a media event .
Namely, “emphasis”; to imply the symbol of the event, “performativity”; to imply the specifics of the events constitution in time and space, “loyalty”; to imply the nature of the receiving communities, and audiences, and lastly, “shared experience”; implying the broader performance and constitution of the event in the receiving communities, and audiences[3].
As comprehensive as Dayan’s definition may be, I find the assumption that the object of a media event is always one of a consensual nature, or a shared experience quite lacking. Hepp and Couldry provide a new perspective on the same issue. Their perspective calls for one to rethink the form and context of media events[4] as defined by Dayan. Their definition of a media event, “certain situated, thickening, centering performance 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[5]” transcends the typical model of consensual, shared experiences as suggested by Dayan. By Hepp and Couldry’s definition, the term “media event” also encompasses “conflictual media events” like the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church and the world of celebrity culture as well. So, yes. Snooki’s hair, or Lady Gaga’s medium-rare steak outfit is as much of a media event as the tragedy that befell America on September 11th 2001 or the historic election of America’s first African American president.
The election of Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan “goat-herder turned economist” [6] to the highest office in United States will always be ‘The’ media event of my life time. I can definitely say that I saw history being written on the day President Obama gave that key acceptance speech. That was a moment like no other. People from around the world gathered before big screens in parks, stadiums and churches while others huddled around radios in the wee hours of the night, waiting. Waiting with pride, tears in their eyes and holding onto their neighbors’ hand. It was indeed the dawn of a new era in the land of the free.
[1] Couldry, Nick/Hepp, Andreas/Krotz, Friedrich (eds.): Media Events in a Global Age. 2009. London, New York: Routledge 2009. p11
[2] Couldry, Nick/Hepp, Andreas/Krotz, Friedrich (eds.): Media Events in a Global Age. 2009. London, New York: Routledge 2009. p286
[3] Couldry, Nick/Hepp, Andreas/Krotz, Friedrich (eds.): Media Events in a Global Age. 2009. London, New York: Routledge 2009. p286.
[4] Couldry, Nick/Hepp, Andreas/Krotz, Friedrich (eds.): Media Events in a Global Age. 2009. London, New York: Routledge 2009. p288
[5] Couldry, Nick/Hepp, Andreas/Krotz, Friedrich (eds.): Media Events in a Global Age. 2009. London, New York: Routledge 2009. p287
