Media events, globalization and cultural change: An introduction to the special issue

Abstract

In 1992, the book Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History by Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz was published. Based on a number of preceding articles (Katz, 1980; Katz and Dayan, 1985; Katz, Dayan, and Motyl, 1981), the book conceptualized media events as a distinct area within media and communication research, an area that has to be investigated by crossing the empirical traditions of mass communication research and cultural studies. The ongoing relevance of this book is manifested by the simple fact that is still the main starting point for empirical media events research. Interestingly, Dayan and Katz did not define a media event as a certain incident that is covered by the media, but rather as a specific media genre. As such, this genre takes shape across eight points (Dayan and Katz, 1992). First, media events are an interruption of routine in broadcasting as well as in the everyday life of the audiences. Second, they monopolize the media coverage across different media channels. Third, media events are characterized by the fact that they are broadcasted live. Fourth, they are organized not by the media themselves1, but outside the media. Fifth, media events are pre-planned productions. Sixth, they are presented with reverence and ceremony. Seventh, the coverage of media events celebrates reconciliation. Eighth, they electrify wide audiences (such as a nation, several nations, or the world). Drawing on Max Weber’s (1972) three types of authority, within this genre of media events Dayan and Katz typified three basic scripts: the ‘contest’ (such as the Olympic Games and which focuses on the present in the sense of affirming existing rules), the ‘conquest’ (such the first step on the moon and which focuses on the future in the sense of changing existing rules) and the ‘coronation’ (such as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, although funerals also fall into this category, which focuses on the past in the sense of tradition-bound rules). These three scripts demonstrate the extent to which Dayan and Katz’s study has a special