Media circus

News media satellite up-link trucks and photojournalists gathered outside the Prudential Financial headquarters in Newark, New Jersey in August, 2004 following the announcement of evidence of a terrorist threat to it and to buildings in New York City.

Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event where the media coverage is perceived to be out of proportion to the event being covered, such as the number of reporters at the scene, the amount of news media published or broadcast, and the level of media hype. The term is meant to critique the media, usually negatively so, by comparing it, usually unfavorably, to a circus and, as such, is an idiom and not a literal observation. Usage of the term in this sense became common in the 1970's.^[1][2]

History

Although the idea is older, the term media circus began to appear around the mid 1970s. An early example is from the 1976 book by author Lynn Haney, in which she writes about a romance in which the athlete Chris Evert was involved: "Their courtship, after all, had been a 'media circus.'"^[3] A few years later The Washington Post had a similar courtship example in which it reported, "Princess Grace herself is still traumatized by the memory of her own media-circus wedding to Prince Rainier in 1956."^[4] The term has become increasingly popular with time since the 1970s.

Reasons for being critical of the media are as varied as the people who use the term. However, at the core of most criticism is that there may be a significant opportunity cost when other more important news issues get less public attention as a result of coverage of the hyped issue.

Media circuses make up the central plot device in the 1951 movie Ace In The Hole about a self-interested reporter who, covering a mine disaster, allows a man to die trapped underground. It cynically examines the relationship between the media and the news it reports. The movie was subsequently re-issued as The Big Carnival, with "carnival" referring to what we now call a "circus."

Examples

Events described as a media circus include:

United Kingdom

• The life, death and funeral of Jade Goody.^[5]
• The News International phone hacking scandal. Often shadowed stories on the Libyan/Syrian civil wars, east-African famine, and economic crisis.^[6]

United States

Cameras and reporters in front of the Strauss-Kahn apartment on May 26, 2011

• David Gelman, Peter Greenberg, et al. in Newsweek on January 31, 1977: "Brooklyn born photographer and film producer Lawrence Schiller managed to make himself the sole journalist to witness the execution of Gary Gilmore in Utah....In the Gilmore affair, he was like a ringmaster in what became a media circus, with sophisticated newsmen scrambling for what he had to offer."^[7]
• The Blizzard of '96 (1996). "...this storm ...so hyped by the media in the same way that the O. J. Simpson murder case became hyped as the "Trial of the century."^[8]
• The trial of Martha Stewart (2004)."The stone-faced Stewart never broke stride as she cut a path through the media circus." ^[9] The motives of the Federal prosecutor in the case United States v. Stewart, Martha, Eliot Spitzer, have subsequently been called into question.
• The Casey Anthony Murder Trial (2011) "Once again, it was relentless media coverage that in large part fed the fascination with the case," Ford observed.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Aruba

• The disappearance of Natalee Holloway^[14]

Australia

• The Beaconsfield Mine collapse^[15]
• 2009 Violence against Indians in Australia controversy^[16]
• 2009 Victorian Bushfires^[17]

Brazil

• The murder of Isabella Nardoni^[18]

Chile

• 2010 Copiapó mining accident.^[19][20][21]

Italy

• Amanda Knox (convicted in the murder of Meredith Kercher)^[22]

Peru

• Joran van der Sloot and the death of Stephany Flores Ramírez^[23]

See also

• 24-hour news cycle
• Broadcast Journalism
• Cause célèbre
• CNN effect
• Deviancy amplification spiral
• Feiler Faster Thesis
• It's Not News, It's FARK
• Journalism
• Journalist
• Local news
• Media event
• Media scrum
• Missing white woman syndrome
• News broadcasting
• News program
• Reporter
• Sensationalism
• Television news
• Television program
• Trial by media
• Yellow journalism

References

1. ^ "Gilmore case turning into a circus for media". Milwaukee Journal. 1976-12-03. "The worldwide attention that condemned killer Gary Gilmore is receiving has turned his case into a media circus Utah residents are saying" 
2. ^ Miller, Gene (1976-12-08). "Only in America - the Gary Gilmore Circus has everything but dancing bears". The Evening Independent. "There is most appallingly, an only-in-America spectacle wherein a quest for justice becomes an extravaganza for the fast buck. Come, come, come to the circus." 
3. ^ Lynn Haney (1976). Chris Evert, the Young Champion.
4. ^ Washington Post B1, June 29, 1978. This is the oldest quote the Oxford English Dictionary has listed, although obviously there are older occurrences.
5. ^ Knapton, Sarah (March 22, 2009). "Jade Goody dies after cancer battle bringing media circus to end". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/jade-goody/5033144/Jade-Goody-dies-after-cancer-battle-bringing-media-circus-to-end.html. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
6. ^ Rodriguez, Linda (July 22, 2011). "No one outside of the media-political circus cares about the phone hacking scandal". http://www.periscopepost.com/2011/07/no-one-outside-of-the-media-political-circus-cares-about-the-phone-hacking-scandal/. Retrieved August 17, 2011. 
7. ^ Gelman, David, Greenberg, Peter S. et al., "Ringmaster at the circus," Newsweek. New York: Jan. 31, 1977. Vol.89, Iss. 5; pg. 77. Source type: Periodical. ISSN: 00289604. ProQuest document ID: 1098541. Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1098541&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=76566&RQT=309&VName=PQD (subscription) retrieved Dec. 20, 2006
8. ^ (Elizabeth Davis, The Daily Beacon, January 12, 1996).[1]
9. ^ Newsweek, "Martha's Fall," March 15, 2005 [2]
10. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/casey-anthony-trial-turned-media-frenzy-031041514.html
11. ^ http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/182093/57/Elon-Professor-Explains-Media-Frenzy-Around-Anthony-Case-
12. ^ "Casey Anthony trial turned into media frenzy". Reuters. July 6, 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/06/us-casey-idUSTRE7650HY20110706. 
13. ^ "Casey Anthony trial: Media frenzy at new heights". CBS News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/06/earlyshow/main20077125.shtml. 
14. ^ "When is enough Natalee Holloway madness enough?". Caribbean Net News. 2005-08-23. http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/08/23/enough.shtml. 
15. ^ ""Media circus comes digging for gold""]. Sydney Morning Herald. May 4, 2006. http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/media-circus-comes-digging-for-gold/2006/05/03/1146335804552.html&cid=0. 
16. ^ http://blogs.radioaustralia.net.au/today/an-indian-boy-and-a-media-circus
17. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/11/2488481.htm
18. ^ Global Voices - Brazil: Making a child murder into a media show
19. ^ As media circus wanes...
20. ^ The media circus around Chile's trapped miners.
21. ^ The ‘Get’ Game Gets Going at Chile Miner Media Circus
22. ^ Squires, Nick (September 23, 2011). "Amanda Knox compared to Goebbels by prosecutors". Telegraph (UK) (Perugia). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/8784918/Amanda-Knox-compared-to-Nazi-Joseph-Goebbels.html. Retrieved 2011-09-27. ""The trial must be held here, in this courtroom. This lobbying, this media and political circus, this heavy interference, forget all of it," the prosecutor said" 
23. ^ "Peru police confirm Van der Sloot's murder confession". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. 2010-06-09. http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/peru-police-confirm-van-der-sloots-murder-confession.