Week One - What is a Media Event?

A media event can take so many different forms. The definition of a media event has grown as the capabilities of media have grown. Traditionally, media events would have centered around large-scale publicly broadcasted incidents, such as a radio broadcasts or a television production. With the advent of media technology, social network sites and mobile communications, any form of publication (including this one) is a media event. Media is constantly in a state of transformation, and this transformation has altered the way in which information can become a media event.

I feel that what essentially creates a media event is the ability to publish. As was outlined in the lecture, ‘global events’ are created because people can remotely link to an event that is occurring anywhere in the world. An event was also described as “the sense of singular irruptions” and these irruptions (and the access to them) are what define the terms of a media event. In the past, these irruptions involved the physical stopping of the daily routine to present an event (such as the arrival of a VIP or the announcement of global political decision) in which publicity was the main driving force. Whilst this notion hasn’t fundamentally changed in today’s world, publicity is still a primary factor, the manner in which an event can be considered a ‘media’ event has transformed. With the ability to upload, share and publish, any event that receive some form of publicity (a ‘like’ on Facebook, a ret-tweet or a general readership of 10, 000 people) can become a media event. What someone had for breakfast can be published online, appear as an irruption in someone’s newsfeed, and receive publicity when people remotely access it.

Fundamentally, a media event is something someone has published, with the intent to receive publicity, from an audience who can access it from any location after the said event has interrupted their routine and caught their attention.