The Importance of Ritual in Crisis Journalism

Olsson, Eva‐Karin; Riegert, Kristina

doi:10.1080/17512780701275457

Cited by 48 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…213-24, 2000;14 Zelizer, p. 366-76). 15 expound James Carey's ritual view of communication where the purpose of communication is to maintain society over time, 'representing shared beliefs, understandings and emotions whether in celebration or in mourning.' This culturalist perspective, they argue, emphasizes the importance of meaning-making and sees journalism and equally the dissemination of suffering as a platform for remembering, sharing and mourning.…”

Section: Suffering As a Ritual For Communionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestication of suffering: The politics of pity and communion through ICTs

Ibrahim¹

2011

Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communicatio

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The ability to bear witness to human trauma and devastation through technologies in the new media age endorses suffering as a form of mass spectacle which can negotiate distance between an exterior world as well as the unfamiliar and the unknown. Our engagements with these forms of mediated suffering in postmodernity can be public and complex and conditioned by both media power and our ability to domesticate suffering in the private confines of our homes. This article reviews the domestication of suffering historically in mainstream media. It contends that mediated suffering has become an entrenched ritual in the media landscape and is a multi-faceted device which can be functionalist and therapeutic yet too pervasive to be rendered meaningful in people's everyday lives.

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Section: Suffering As a Ritual For Communionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestication of suffering: The politics of pity and communion through ICTs

Ibrahim¹

2011

Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communicatio

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“…Looking to 'disaster marathons', live and uninterrupted news coverage on the heels of tragic events like terrorist bombings and assassinations that capture the attention of the public and interrupt life's daily routines, she argued that during the 'celebration of disaster', television takes charge with live marathonic broadcasting from the moment when the disaster strikes (or immediately after) until the redressive ceremonial closure, which mobilizes the political establishment of the country or world. ' (p. 74) In other words, much like Turner's discussion of the function of 'social dramas', disaster marathons are mediatized rituals in the form of a crisis event which serves to confirm the ability of the powerful in society to offer solutions and closure (see also Kitch, 2003;Riegert & Olsson, 2007).…”

Section: Media Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ritual and Journalism

Peters¹

2019

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication

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For millennia, the idea that rituals create a shared and conventional world of human sociality has been commonplace. From common rites of passage that exist around the world in various forms (weddings, funerals, coming-of-age ceremonies) to patterned actions that seem familiar only to members of the in-group (secret initiations, organizational routines), the voluntary performance of ritual encourages people to participate and engage meaningfully in different spheres of society. While attention to the concept was originally the purview of anthropology, sociology, and history, many other academic disciplines have since turned to ritual as a “window” on the cultural dynamics by which people make and remake their worlds. In terms of journalism studies in particular, the concept of ritual has been harnessed by scholars looking to understand the symbolic power of media to direct public attention, define issues and groups, and cause social cohesion or dissolution. Media rituals performed in and through news coverage indicate social norms, common and conflicting values, and different ways of being “in the world.” The idea of ritual in journalism is accordingly related to discussions around the societal power of journalism as an institution, the ceremonial aspects of news coverage (especially around elite persons and extraordinary “media events”), and the different techniques journalists use to “make the news” and “construct reality.” Journalism does more than merely cover events or chronicle history—it provides a mediated space for audiences and publics that both allows and extends rituals that can unite, challenge, and affect society.

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“…For example, international nuclear disasters often gain intense media attention because they are typically unexpected and their magnitude can usually be felt around the world (Zoeteman et al., ). Media managers believe their role in crisis coverage transcends simple information dissemination by also attempting to fulfil the therapeutic ritual of providing their audience with immediacy, comfort, reassurance and understanding of the event (Riegert & Olsson, ).…”

Section: News Framing Theory In Crisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During crises when events change rapidly, news frames are typically dynamic rather than static (Li, ). These frames must shift in accordance with the audience's understanding of the event as it evolves in order for the media to remain relevant in the historical drama (Olsson, ; Riegert et al., ). When a story's temporal and spatial frames are intermittently shifted, the crisis event's salience in the news and among the public is increased (Muschert & Carr, ).…”

Section: News Framing Theory In Crisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing Home the Crisis: How US Evening News Framed the 2011 Japan Nuclear Crisis

Iannarino

Veil

Cotton

2014

Contingencies & Crisis Mgmt

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Crisis communication scholars have used framing theory to argue that how the media characterizes varying aspects of a crisis can influence the public's perception of the event.While much of the crisis-framing research has been content analysis-driven, providing numbers and percentages of news stories that fit a certain story type, it is also important to examine how shifts in public opinion and policy may be indicative of and influenced by the ongoing discourse that news outlets use to characterize international crises. In this study, we use inductive analysis to describe the frames used by US evening network news to characterize the 2011 Japan nuclear crisis and outline how this coverage may have shaped and reflected public opinion and policy in the US during and following the crisis.

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The Importance of Ritual in Crisis Journalism

Cited by 48 publications

References 10 publications

Domestication of suffering: The politics of pity and communion through ICTs

Domestication of suffering: The politics of pity and communion through ICTs

Ritual and Journalism

Bringing Home the Crisis: How US Evening News Framed the 2011 Japan Nuclear Crisis

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