Interruptions of time: The coverage of the missing Malaysian plane MH370 and the concept of ‘events’ in media research

Abstract

The article makes a case for foregrounding ‘event’ as a key concept within journalism studies before, during, and after the digital age. The article’s first part presents an overview of the existing research on events in philosophy, sociology, historiography, and journalism studies, arguing that the concept of ‘event’ has not received sufficient attention in journalism studies. The article’s second part demonstrates the need to consider ‘event’ as an essential concept of journalism studies through an empirical case study: the news coverage of the disappeared Malaysian Airlines plane MH370 (8 March 2014) in four American news outlets, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and CNN. This article argues that journalists employed two strategies in their coverage: (1) they created and/or covered what the article calls ‘substitute events’, defined as minor events in the present that journalists perceived as new happenings and that led to further reporting and (2) turned to the past and the future for events in their reporting, extending the scope of coverage from the relatively eventless present. Overall, the case study shows that journalists are limited in their narration by the power of events, and they are eager to construct and cover events, even when events are not readily available.

‘Team GB’ or ‘Team Scotland’? Media representations of ‘Britishness’ and ‘Scottishness’ at London 2012 and Glasgow 2014

“…That is, while the concept of media events has undergone analytical expansion (Katz and Liebes, 2007), the above examples reveal how the journalists maintained a narrative function in the reporting of media events (Sonnevand, 2017), while also purporting a position of critical significance. As noted by Sonnevand (2017), 'Events need explanation in journalism' (pg.14), and, as a result, the role of the journalist cannot simply be that of mere 'priests', torn between critical interpretation or cynical avoidance (Dayan and Katz, 1992). Instead, despite the emergence of 24/7 news coverage and the potential threat to journalism from unsolicited, citizen-based journalism, the above examples reveal how newspaper journalists, both in print and online, occupied a prominent position in the framing of both London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 as well as a level of engagement that alluded to specific national attachments, and, in particular, to potential differences in the ways in which both events reflected wider changes in discussions on 'Britishness' (Skey et al, 2016).…”

Anticipatory news infrastructures: Seeing journalism’s expectations of future publics in its sociotechnical systems

“…Anticipation genres are publicly powerful when they help audiences imagine some futures over others. Sonnevend (2018) sees journalistic imagination in reporters' willingness to elevate mundane moments into journalistic events that sustain ongoing reporting. If audiences see these speculations as relevant, they give journalists, public officials, and advertisers permission for anticipating (Neiger, 2007).…”

Retroactive causation and the temporal construction of news: contingency and necessity, content and form

“…However, what the above discussion has sought to highlight and, more importantly, served to bring together, is how the construction of news is grounded in a past-present dialectic whereby the representation and framing of both the past and present is constituted by examples of tension, antagonism and even ambivalence. Indeed, while this is evident in the various ways in which news journalists seek to make sense of, and, give meaning to, present events (Sonnevend 2017), such tensions are also apparent when 'key meanings and values in society become confounded and ambiguous' (Berkowitz and Raaii 2010, 366).…”

“…There is a sense here that an acknowledgement of memory can mark a return of what is repressed (Freud 2002); reflected in the (im)possibility of acknowledging that the 'intricate repertoire of practices' obfuscate a more uncomfortable, underlying truth: that content will, at some point, be corrected (Zelizer 2008a, 83 see also Carpentier and Trioen 2010). This is noted by Sonnevend (2017), who highlights how, in news coverage of the missing Malaysian plane MH370, news journalists sought to draw upon the past as part of their eagerness to cover the event, even when their information was limited. By 'turn[ing] to past events to fill the information gap' (Sonnevend 2017, 81), Sonnevend explains how 'The past offered journalists … seemingly end-less resources' (Sonnevend 2017, 86).…”

“…In this example, the presence of memory marks an 'empty place' in content; a lack which returns in retroactive form, conveniently disclosing meaning through memory (Edy 2006). Echoing Sonnevend (2017), this is evident in news coverage of national events where the commemorative function is delivered through an almost excessive and often contradictory range of collective memories, each bestowing meaning and significance on events which often perpetuate their own significance (Black 2015(Black , 2017(Black , 2018Edy and Daradanova 2006;Whigham and Black 2018).…”