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 for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to be excessive or out of proportion to the event being covered. Coverage that is sensationalistic can add to the perception the event is the subject of a media circus. The term is meant to critique the coverage of the event by comparing it to the spectacle and pageantry of a circus. Usage of the term in this sense became common in the 1970s.^[1][2] It can also be called a media feeding frenzy or just media frenzy, especially when they cover the media coverage.

History[]

This section possibly contains original research. Please by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (November 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Tonya Harding arriving at Portland International Airport after the 1994 Winter Olympics.

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.^{[citation needed]} Reasons for being critical of the media are varied; 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.^{[citation needed]}

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 they report. The movie was subsequently re-issued as The Big Carnival, with "carnival" referring to what we now call a "circus". In the film, the disaster attracts campers including a real circus. The movie was based on real-life Floyd Collins who in 1925 was trapped in a Kentucky cave drawing so much media attention that it became the third largest media event between the two World Wars (the other two being Lindbergh's solo flight and the Lindbergh kidnapping).^[5]

Examples[]

Events described as a media circus include:

Aruba[]

• The disappearance, and assumed death, of Natalee Holloway (2005–).^[6]

Australia[]

• The Azaria Chamberlain disappearance of 2-month-old baby in outback Australia (1980).^[7]
• The Beaconsfield Mine collapse (2006).^[8]
• 2009 Violence against Indians in Australia controversy.^[9]
• Schapelle Corby Drug smuggler (2014).^[10][11]

Brazil[]

• The murder of Isabella Nardoni (2008).^[12]

Canada[]

• Conrad Black, business magnate of newspapers, convicted of fraud, embezzlement and corporate destruction, imprisoned in Florida.^[13]
• Toronto mayor Rob Ford's life, including his usage of drugs, alcohol and involvement with organized crime (2013).^[14][15][16]
• Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka (serial killers).^[17]
• Omar Khadr (detained as a minor at Guantanamo Bay in 2001, transferred to Canada in 2012, released in May 2015).^[18]
• Luka Rocco Magnotta

Chile[]

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

Colombia[]

• The Death of Luis Andres Colmenares (2010).^[22]

Italy[]

• Amanda Knox (convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher; her conviction was subsequently overturned).^[23]

Malaysia[]

• The missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (2014).^[24][25]

Peru[]

• Hostage situation in the Japanese ambassador's residence (1997).
• Joran van der Sloot and the death of Stephany Flores Ramirez (2010).^[26]

Poland[]

• The assumed discovery of the Nazi gold train in Wałbrzych (Waldenburg), 2015^{[citation needed]}

Romania[]

• Disappearance and alleged murder of Elodia Ghinescu, especially on OTV, which aired a couple hundred episodes on the matter.^{[27][28][29][30]}

South Africa[]

• Oscar Pistorius on trial for death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp (2013–14).^[31][32]

South Korea[]

• Suicide and funeral of K-pop star and Shinee member Kim Jong-hyun^[33][34]

Thailand[]

• Tham Luang cave rescue^[35]

Ukraine[]

• Mykola Melnychenko's involvement in the Cassette Scandal (1999–2000).^[36][37]

United Kingdom[]

• The Charlie Gard case.^[38]
• The life, career, death and funeral of Jade Goody (2009).^[39]
• The News International phone hacking scandal (2011). Often overshadowed stories on the Libyan/Syrian Civil Wars, East African famine, and economic crisis.^[40]
• The disappearance of Madeleine McCann (2008).^[41]
• The McLibel case.^[42]

United States[]

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

• The 1924 murder trials of Beulah Annan, Belva Gærtner, and several other female suspects in Chicago, adapted into the Chicago franchise by a newspaper reporter^[43]
• The 1954 trial of Sam Sheppard. The U.S. Supreme Court held "massive, pervasive, and prejudicial publicity" prevented him from receiving a fair trial.^[44]
• The 1965 littering trial against singer Arlo Guthrie and Richard Robbins, deliberately turned into a local media circus by arresting officer William Obanhein to deter others from repeating their actions.^[45]
• Coverage of the investigation and trial of the 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and four others by the Manson family.^[46]
• 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."^[47]
• The rescue of baby Jessica McClure (1987)^[48]
• The Central Park jogger case of 1989.^[49]
• The O. J. Simpson murder case of 1994–1995.^[31][32]
• 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".^[50]
• The Elián González custody conflict (2000).^[51]
• The Summer of the Shark in 2001.^[52][53][54]
• The trial of Scott Peterson (2004). "The circus became even more raucous when Peterson went on trial for murder in 2004."^[55]
• The trial of Martha Stewart (2004). "The stone-faced Stewart never broke stride as she cut a path through the media circus."^[56]
• The disappearance of Stacy Peterson (2007).^[57]
• The alleged teenage "pregnancy pact" at Glocuester High School (2008).^[58]
• 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.^{[59][60][61][62]}
• The killing of Trayvon Martin (2012). "Here is where the media circus takes a decidedly ugly turn", Eric Deggans wrote.^[63]
• The murder of Travis Alexander (2013), where Jodi Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder.^{[64][65][66][67][68][69]}
• The sexual harassment allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein effect (2017).^[70]
• The murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed (2020).^[71]

See also[]

• 24-hour news cycle
• Cause célèbre
• CNN effect
• Deviancy amplification spiral
• "Dirty Laundry" (Don Henley song)
• Feiler faster thesis
• It's Not News, It's FARK
• Richard Jewell
• Media scrum
• Missing white woman syndrome
• Paparazzi
• Perp walk
• Sensationalism
• Silly season
• Trial by media
• Yellow journalism

References[]