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, by comparing it to a circus, and is considered an idiom as opposed to a literal observation. Usage of the term in this sense became common in the 1970s. ^[1][2]

History [edit]

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 they report. The movie was subsequently re-issued as The Big Carnival, with "carnival" referring to what we now call a "circus."

Examples [edit]

Events described as a media circus include:

United Kingdom [edit]

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

United States [edit]

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 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]}
• The Shooting of Trayvon Martin (2012). "Here is where the media circus takes a decidedly ugly turn," Eric Deggans wrote ...^[14]

Aruba [edit]

• The disappearance, and assumed death, of Natalee Holloway^[15]

Australia [edit]

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

Brazil [edit]

• The murder of Isabella Nardoni^[18]

Chile [edit]

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

Italy [edit]

• Amanda Knox (convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher; her conviction was subsequently overturned)^[22]

Peru [edit]

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

See also [edit]

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

References [edit]