Media Events, solidarity, and the rise and fall of the public sphere

Abstract

Dayan and Katz’s classic, Media Events, has continued relevance even as its primary object of inquiry, ceremonial television, is no longer as significant as it once was. The book demonstrates how a key insight of Gabriel Tarde, concerning the importance of media in modern societies, resolves a dilemma of Emile Durkheim’s sociology, the continued importance of common beliefs and rituals in complex society when the members of society have more differences than commonalities. This insight is then applied to a deeper understanding of how ‘media events’ resolved a weakness in Habermas’ account of the transformation public sphere, the cogency of an understanding of a central public sphere when there are in fact multiple publics. The article concludes with reflections on the clear and present crises of public life today when multiple publics do not meet.