Pseudo-Events in Communication

Paper Summary:

This paper examines pseudo-events, such as news conferences, press releases, and stunts that "someone has planned, planted or incited" to fill print space and broadcast time. The paper examines other gimmicks used in communication, such as copy writing, market research, psychological research, sales promotions, and public relations, which are intended to distract people from the fact that the results derived from advertising and the media are unverifiable. The paper also discusses media hype (such as the O.J. Simpson case) and looks at how pseudo-events affect politics and world affairs (such as the use of CNN in the Iraqi War).

From the Paper:

"How can the understanding of the nature of pseudo-events contribute to the understanding of contemporary public life? Basically, by opening the possibility of new moral questions: It is not so impossible to think of the contemporary politician's obsession with the media as an example of a new kind of access to the constitution of political judgments. We cannot so easily hold that media spectators are not more than passive victims of actors? manipulation. The action of the actor and the judgment of the spectators constitute in practice a unique phenomenon. This is so because within the common world actors and spectators share the dialogic interaction of deeds and speech which makes sense of the world."

More papers on Pseudo-Events in Communication:

• Term Paper # 121564 : "Pseudo-Events"
• Term Paper # 137048 : "Two Historical Events in Community Health Nursing"
• Term Paper # 124236 : "Epochal Events in History"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: