Media Events

Media events are temporally limited occasions that draw in and accumulate all media communication. They have become a dominant feature of contemporary society, from election campaigns and product launches to the FIFA World Cup, catastrophes, terrorist attacks, and many more. Research studies on this theme and these phenomena have increased considerably since the late 1990s. This entry provides an overview of earlier studies and concepts, but particular attention is paid to research that appeared after the 1990s.

[Page 1069]The entry opens with an overview of early studies in the field of communication studies and is followed by an overview of post–World War II media developments. The positive quality of media events as unifying occurrences is then presented in a detailed discussion of the major publication by ...