Media circus

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Media circus is a pejorative description of the media. The term is an idiom and not an objective observation. For those who use it, the term 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. Media hype is another term used frequently in reference to a critique of news and entertainment media.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known use of media circus, in published print, was in a June 29, 1978, Washington Post article: "Princess Grace herself is still traumatized by the memory of her own media-circus wedding to Prince Rainier in 1956." (section B1).

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.

[edit] Events

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:

In the United States:
- Wedding of Princess Grace in 1956. "Princess Grace herself is still traumatized by the memory of her own media-circus wedding to Prince Rainier in 1956." (June 29, 1978, Washington Post B1).
- The Blizzard of '96 (1996). "...this storm ...so hyped by the media in the same way that the O.J. Simpson trial became hyped as the "Trial of the Century." (Elizabeth Davis, The Daily Beacon, January 12 1996).[1]
- The trial of Martha Stewart (2004). "The stone-faced Stewart never broke stride as she cut a path through the media circus." (Newsweek, "Martha's Fall", March 15 2005 [2]).
In Australia:
- Mining disaster in Tasmania "Media circus comes digging for gold", Sydney Morning Herald, May 4, 2006.