Media circus

Media circus describes 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 by comparing it to a circus and, as such, is an idiom and not an objective observation. Media hype, orgy, shitstorm and feeding frenzy are similar terms used in reference to a critique of news and entertainment media.

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 says "Their courtship, after all, had been a media circus". A few years later The Washington Post had a similar courtship example in when it said "Princess Grace herself is still traumatized by the memory of her own media-circus wedding to Prince Rainier in 1956." 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 circus is the central plot device in the 1951 movie Ace in the Hole about a self-interested reporter covering a mine disaster. It cynically examines the relationship between the media and the news it reports. It was originally called The Big Carnival, with "carnival" referring to what we now call a "circus".

Examples

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.

Events described as a media circus include:

United Kingdom

• The 1981 wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana
• The disappearance of Madeleine McCann
• The Cheriegate property scandal
• The Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls row
• The February 2009 Great Britain and Ireland snowfall
• The life, death and funeral of Jade Goody
• The engagement and planned wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton
• The murder of Joanna Yeates
• The Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton
• The scandal which lasted for months surrounding Wayne Rooney and his wife Colleen after it was made public he was caught sleeping with prostitutes.
• The tragic life and evetual death of football player George Best.
• The expenses scandal surrounding Members of Parliament concerning their expenses claims.
• The seperation of football player Ashley Cole and his wife Cheryl Tweedy after he admitted to sleeping with prostitutes.
• The Raul Moat media circus
• Katie Price's marriage and divorce to singer Peter Andre, followed by her relationship with cage-fighter Alex Reid.

United States of America

• 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."
• The Death of Elvis Presley, Aug.16 1977
• The rescue of Jessica McClure, October 14–16, 1987
• 1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson, 1993
• The O. J. Simpson trial, from 1994–1995
• 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".
• Y2K Hype
• The 2000 Presidential Election recount in Florida
• The 2001 Chandra Levy disappearance and Gary Condit affair
• The 2001 Summer of the Shark
• The trial of Martha Stewart (2004)."The stone-faced Stewart never broke stride as she cut a path through the media circus."
• The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, from 1998–1999
• The 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy
• The 2005 People v. Jackson
• The 2005 divorce of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
• The 2005 Runaway bride case
• The Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal
• The 2009 flu pandemic
• The 2009 Death of Michael Jackson
• The 2009 Balloon boy hoax
• The 2009 Tiger Woods scandal
• The 2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls
• The Brett Favre retirement saga in 2008, 2009, and 2010
• The 2010 Park51 controversy
• The 2011 coming of Ted Williams from Columbus

Aruba

• The disappearance of Natalee Holloway

Australia

• The 2005 Cronulla riots
• The Beaconsfield Mine collapse
• The information of Swine influenza
• 2009 Violence against Indians in Australia controversy
• 2009 Victorian Bushfires
• Jessica Watson's return to Sydney in May 2010 after her "solo round the world trip"

Brazil

• The murder of Isabella Nardoni

Chile

• 2010 Copiapó mining accident.

Egypt

• The trial of Hisham Talaat Moustafa, a business tycoon and former member of Egypt's upper house of parliament, convicted of contracting to murder the Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim.

Pakistan

• Marriage of Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik to female Indian tennis player Sania Mirza

Peru

• Joran van der Sloot and the death of Stephany Flores Ramírez

See also

• 24-hour news cycle
• Cause célèbre
• Deviancy amplification spiral
• Media event
• Media scrum
• Missing white woman syndrome
• Sensationalism
• Trial by media
• It's Not News, It's FARK