Broadening the Concept of Media Rituals: Tabloids as “Low Holidays of Television”
Lajos Császi
Broadening the Concept of Media Rituals: Tabloids as “Low Holidays of Television”
Abstract
The concept of ritual communication, originally formulated by James Carey, introduced the self-reflexive, identity- and community building aspect of the media. No one did more to further elaborate and specify this concept than Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz in their Media Events. However, I also argue that their interpretation of media events as “high holidays of mass communication” raises many questions. Should scandalous and negative events be omitted from the concept of ritual communication? Or, can their classification be extended to the tabloids, those ordinary but pleasurable events, which could be called the “low holidays” of television? In this paper I show three different media rituals of the present day popular media. I refer to them as “Therapy” (exemplified by the Oprah Winfrey Show); “Trial” (exemplified by reality shows); and “Exposure” (exemplified by the Jerry Springer Show).
Lajos Császi is a senior research fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Sociology. He is the author of A média ritusai (Media rituals) (Osiris, 2002) and Tévéerőszak és morális pánik (Television violence and moral panic) (Új Mandátum, 2003). He is interested in cultural sociology and the ethnography of the media. E-mail: csaszi-AT-socio.mta.hu.