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Media circus is a colloquialmetaphor, or idiom, describing a news event for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to be excessive or out of proportion to the event being covered. Coverage that is sensationalistic can add to the perception the event is the subject of a media circus. The term is meant to critique the coverage of the event by comparing it to the spectacle and pageantry of a circus. Usage of the term in this sense became common in the 1970s.[1][2] It can also be called a media feeding frenzy or just media frenzy, especially when the media coverage itself is covered.
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]
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".
In the film, the disaster attracts campers including a real circus.
The movie was based on real-life Floyd Collins who in 1925 was trapped in a Kentucky cave drawing so much media attention that it became the third largest media event between the two World Wars (the other two being Lindbergh's solo flight and the Lindbergh kidnapping).[5]
Albert Johnson aka Mad Trapper of Rat River, a trapper fleeing RCMP concerning a dispute with local indigenous over trapping rights evades a manhunt for a month over 240 km, ending in a shootout at a cabin (1932)
Conrad Black, business magnate of newspapers, convicted of fraud, embezzlement and corporate destruction, imprisoned in Florida (2007)[13]
Toronto mayor Rob Ford's life, including his usage of drugs, alcohol and involvement with organized crime (2013)[14][15][16]
Omar Khadr (detained as a minor at Guantanamo Bay in 2001, transferred to Canada in 2012, released in May 2015)[18]
Luka Magnotta Rocco, who murdered his Chinese-national roommate and mailed his remains to schools and public offices in 2012 before fleeing to Germany where he was arrested.
Fatal traffic accident of the Neville-Lake children and their grandfather (2015)[19][20][21][22]
Assassination of a Spanish landowner by a Filipino laborer in Negros in 1890, which was covered by Spanish-owned newspapers in Manila in the year's first half.[32]
Cabading killings (1961), a case wherein a father killed his family and his son-in-law before killing himself.[33]
The public absence and cancer diagnosis of Kate Middleton (2023-2024)[73]
United States
Cameras and reporters in front of the Strauss-Kahn apartment on May 26, 2011
The 1924 murder trials of Beulah Annan, Belva Gærtner, and several other female suspects in Chicago, adapted into the Chicago franchise by a newspaper reporter[74]
The 1954 trial of Sam Sheppard. The U.S. Supreme Court held "massive, pervasive, and prejudicial publicity" prevented him from receiving a fair trial[77]
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"[80]
The trial of Scott Peterson for the murder of his wife Laci Peterson (2004), "The circus became even more raucous when Peterson went on trial for murder in 2004"[90]
The trial of Martha Stewart (2004), "The stone-faced Stewart never broke stride as she cut a path through the media circus"[91]
^"Gilmore case turning into a circus for media". Milwaukee Journal. December 3, 1976. The worldwide attention that condemned killer Gary Gilmore is receiving has turned his case into a media circus Utah residents are saying
^Miller, Gene (December 8, 1976). "Only in America - the Gary Gilmore Circus has everything but dancing bears". The Evening Independent. There is most appallingly, an only-in-America spectacle wherein a quest for justice becomes an extravaganza for the fast buck. Come, come, come to the circus.
^Squires, Nick (September 23, 2011). "Amanda Knox compared to Goebbels by prosecutors". Telegraph (UK). Perugia. Retrieved September 27, 2011. "The trial must be held here, in this courtroom. This lobbying, this media and political circus, this heavy interference, forget all of it," the prosecutor said
^"Raport de monitorizare" [Monitoring Report] (PDF). cna.ro (in Romanian). 2008. Archived(PDF) from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
^Antolín, Matías (September 18, 2008). "El linchamiento de Dolores" [The lynching of Dolores]. Diario de Burgos (in Spanish). Burgos, Spain. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
^Rodríguez, Mercedes (June 17, 2008). "'El Caso Wanninkhof', la historia de un linchamiento" ['The Wanninkhof Case', history of a lynching]. El Diario Montañés (in Spanish). Santander, Spain. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
^"Youths Ordered to Clean Up Rubbish Mess". Berkshire Eagle. Pittsfield, Massachusetts. November 29, 1965. p. 25 – via Newspapers.com. He (Obanhein) said he hoped their case would be an example to others who are careless about disposal of rubbish.
^Goldman, Kim; Robertson, Tatsha (September 22, 2015). Media Circus: A Look at Private Tragedy in the Public Eye. BenBella Books. ISBN 9781941631607.
^Gelman, David; Greenberg, Peter S. (January 31, 1977). "Ringmaster at the circus". Newsweek. Vol. 89, no. 5. p. 77. ProQuest214345558.
