The most intense hopes and fears of our collective lives centre around large-scale events – from competitions, celebrations and festivals to environmental disasters, pandemics and terror attacks. The media are a crucial part of this process: they enable the planning, resource allocation and circulation of the vital information needed to mount major events. They are also where traces of events are stored for history. In short, large-scale and collective events have been, and still are, mediated. Starting from nineteenth-century industrialisation, Media and Events in History explains how contemporary life has become saturated with events. It discusses how they have come to involve extensive infrastructures, forms of control and anticipation, attention and participation, contingency and transformation, and articulations of the past and the future. Synthesising and developing insights from history, media studies, philosophy and the social sciences, Ytreberg surveys the rise of event-planning via mediation, and exposes the historical driving forces behind ‘media events’, global ‘mega-events’ and ‘pseudo-events’. Revealing the importance of events in history, this eye-opening book will be of interest to students of media studies, history, historical sociology and cultural history, as well as the general reader.

Science as well. Finally, all those who were mesmerized by the Thomas/Hill hearings, the Gulf War coverage, and other recent media events will find it enlightening and instructive.

"This volume assembles an estimable range of critical analyses of one of the most important mediated artifacts of the modern world—the media event. The authors challenge the construct, extend its usefulness, expand its theoretical basis and application, and examine media events in a far larger and richer context than ever before. Students of global media today are well served by this superb collection of essays." David Morgan, Duke University, USA "A welcome and worthy successor to Dayan and Katz’s path-breaking study that expands and enriches the discourse on global media events." Daya Thussu, University of Westminster, UK "This is an excellent collection, that will enable new kinds of argument about, and hopefully research into, the spectacular functions of the contemporary media." Graeme Turner, University of Queensland, Australia We live in an age where the media is intensely global and profoundly changed by digitalization. Not only do many media events have audiences who access them online, but additionally digital media flows are generating new ways in which media events can emerge. In times of increasingly differentiated media technologies and fragmented media landscapes, the ‘eventization’ of the media is increasingly important for the marketing and everyday appreciation of popular media texts. The events covered include Celebrity Big Brother, 9/11, the Iraq war and World Youth Day 2005 to give readers an understanding of the major debates in this increasingly high-profile area of media and cultural research.

From the launching of America's first newspaper to YouTube's latest phone-videoed crime, the media has always been guilty of indulging America's obsession with controversy. This encyclopedia covers 100 events in world history from the 17th century to the present—moments that alone were major and minor, but ones that exploded in the public eye when the media stepped in. Topics covered include yellow journalism, the War of the Worlds radio broadcast, the Kennedy-Nixon debates, JFK's assassination, the Pentagon papers, and Hurricane Katrina. These are events that changed the way the media is used—not just as a tool for spreading knowledge, but as a way of shaping and influencing the opinions and reactions of America's citizens. Thanks to the media's representations of these events, history has been changed forever. From classified military plans that leaked out to the public to the first televised presidential debates to the current military tortures caught on tape, 100 Media Moments That Changed America will demonstrate not only an ever-evolving system of news reporting, but also the ways in which historical events have ignited the media to mold news in a way that resonates with America's public. This must-have reference work is ideal for journalism and history majors, as well as for interested general readers. Chapters are in chronological order, beginning with the 17th century. Each chapter starts with a brief introduction, followed by media event entries from that decade. Each entry explains the moment, and then delivers specific details regarding how the media covered the event, America's response to the coverage, and how the media changed history.

Iconic Events explores the social forces that have shaped the meanings around and enduring significance of events that have captured the public's imagination, including: Titanic, Pearl Harbor, Columbine, and September 11th. The book focuses on three interpretive phases including journalistic representations, political appropriations, and popular adaptations and pays particular attention to the development of dominant and resistive event narratives.

This introduction to media history captures the excitement and personality of ideas, events, and people who made it happen. With a chronology that emphasizes a narrative style, anecdotes, and a selection of ideas, the chapters of this book are devoted to certain movements in American history and the role of media in them. Events and personalities are interpreted in the context in which they existed. Therefore, both the negative and positive aspects of issues, events, and people who influenced media history are presented. Selection of subjects is made on the basis of what is significant, interesting, and worth remembering. Students will find, for example, the “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” column as well as William Allen White's tribute to his daughter at her death. Basic themes that run through the course of media history are identified by subheads in each chapter, and questions for discussion and research are at the end of each chapter.

A Short History of the Modern Media presents a concise history of the major media of the last 150 years, including print, stage, film, radio, television, sound recording, and the Internet. Offers a compact, teaching-friendly presentation of the history of mass media Features a discussion of works in popular culture that are well-known and easily available Presents a history of modern media that is strongly interdisciplinary in nature