The historical coverage of televised media events in print media: The Case of the Eurovision Song Contest
Main Article Content
Abstract

This study argues that, historically, televised media events managed to become prominent in the public agenda, not only through their live broadcast on television, but also through their long-term, continuous visibility in the print media. This, both on the level of the intensity of their press coverage; and also on the level of their framing as important and significant events for society. In other words, media events have enabled a content-based “coexistence” between print media and television. Through a thematic-qualitative analysis, the study describes how two Israeli, popular and elite newspapers promoted the public discourse on two of the most famous media events in Israel’s history: the 1979 and 1999 Eurovision Song Contests in Jerusalem. Findings reveal an intensive print media coverage of the two shows, from both “soft” (gossip) and “hard” (politics) perspectives. In addition, differences were found in the historical coverage of the contests in popular newspapers, compared to elite ones.
Keywords
References
Baker, C. (2017). The 'gay Olympics'? The Eurovision Song Contest and the politics of LGBT/European belonging. European Journal of International Relations, 23(1), 97-121. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1354066116633278
Belkind, N. (2010). A Message for peace or a tool for oppression? Israeli Jewish-Arab duo Achinoam Nini and Mira Awad's Representation of Israel at Eurovision 2009. Current Musicology, 89, 7-35.
Boyatzis, R. (1998) Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
Braun, V. & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://www.doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Caspi. D. (1993). A Model of the Historical Development of the Media. In Mass Media (Vol. A, pp. 115-116). Tel Aviv: The open University. [Hebrew]
Cassiday, J. A. (2014). Post‐Soviet pop goes gay: Russia's trajectory to Eurovision victory. The Russian Review, 73(1), 1-23. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/russ.10717
Couldry, N. & Hepp, A. (2018). The continuing lure of the mediated Centre in times of deep mediatization: Media Events and its enduring legacy. Media, Culture & Society, 40(1), 114-117. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0163443717726009
Dayan, D. & Katz, E. (1992). Media events: The live broadcasting of history. Cambridge, MA: Harvard university press. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674030305
Galtung, J. & Ruge, M. H. (1965). The structure of foreign news: The presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus crises in four Norwegian newspapers. Journal of peace research, 2(1), 64-90. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/002234336500200104
Ginsburgh, V. & Noury, A. G. (2008). The Eurovision Song Contest: Is voting political or cultural? European Journal of Political Economy, 24(1), 41-52. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2007.05.004
Greenwald, G. (2020). "Eurovision in Danger!": Media framing of the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv as a reflection of social rifts and national anxiety. Misgarot Media, 19, 71-90. [Hebrew]. https://www.doi.org/10.57583/MF.2020.19.10020
Greenwald, G. (2023). Israeli media coverage of international male and female politicians: Gender and ethnopolitical aspects. Communications, 48(2), 226-248. https://www.doi.org/10.1515/commun-2021-0030
Greenwald, G. & Lehman-Wilzig, S. (2019). Is she still "the legendary Jewish mother"? a comparative look at Golda Meir's and Tzipi Livni's election campaign coverage in the Israeli press. Israel Affairs, 25(1), 42-64. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/13537121.2019.1561177
Grob, B. (1984). Basic television and Video systems. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hartwig, S., Rautenberg, T. & Bollmann, T. (1997). Broadcasting and processing of program guides for digital TV. SMPTE journal, 106(10), 727-732. https://www.doi.org/10.5594/j04512
Hepp, A. & Couldry, N. (2009). Introduction: Media events in globalized media cultures. In Media events in a global age (pp. 1-20). New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203872604
Hepp, A. & Vogelgesang, W. (2003). Ansätze einer Theorie populärer Events. In Populäre Events (pp. 11-36). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://www.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-97560-7_1
Highfield, T., Harrington, S. & Bruns, A. (2013). Twitter as a technology for audiencing and fandom: The #Eurovision phenomenon. Information, communication & society, 16(3), 315-339. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2012.756053
Jordan, P. T. (2011). The Eurovision Song Contest: Nation branding and nation building in Estonia and Ukraine. Doctoral dissertation. University of Glasgow.
Katz, E. & Liebes, T. (2007). 'No More Peace!': How Disaster, Terror and War Have Upstaged Media Events. International Journal of Communication, 1(1), 157-166.
Lehman-Wilzig, S. & Cohen-Avigdor, N. (2004). The natural life cycle of new media evolution: Inter-media struggle for survival in the internet age. New Media & Society, 6(6), 707-730. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/146144804042524
Lehman-Wilzig, S. & Seletzky, M. (2010). Hard news, soft news, 'general' news: The necessity and utility of an intermediate classification. Journalism, 11(1), 37-56. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1464884909350642
Lemish, D. (2004). "My Kind of Campfire": The Eurovision Song Contest and Israeli Gay Men. Popular Communication, 2(1), 41-63. https://www.doi.org/10.1207/s15405710pc0201_3
Miazhevich, G. (2017). Paradoxes of new media: Digital discourses on Eurovision 2014, media flows and post-Soviet nation-building. New media & society, 19(2), 199-216. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1461444815591968
Pajala, M. (2011). Making Television Historical: Cultural memory of the Eurovision Song Contest in the Finnish media 1961-2005. Media history, 17(4), 405-418. https://www.doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2011.602859
Panea, J. L. (2018). Identity, spectacle and representation: Israeli entries at the Eurovision Song Contest. Doxa Comunicación, 27, pp. 121-145.
Pérez-Rufí, J. P. & Valverde-Maestre, Á. M. (2020). The spatial-temporal fragmentation of live television video clips: analysis of the television production of the Eurovision Song Contest. Communication & Society, 33(2), 17-31. https://www.doi.org/10.15581/003.33.2.17-31
Ponterotto, J. S. (2006). Brief note on the origins, evolution and meaning of the qualitative research concept: Thick description. The qualitative report, 11(3), 538-549. https://www.doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2006.1666
Roeh, I. & Cohen, A. A. (1992). One of the bloodiest days: A comparative analysis of open and closed television news. Journal of Communication, 42(2), 42-55. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1992.tb00777.x
Singleton, B., Fricker, K. & Moreo, E. (2007). Performing the queer network: Fans and families at the Eurovision Song Contest. SQS-Suomen Queer-Tutkimuksen Seuran Lehti, 2(2), 12-24.
Sumiala, J. & Korpiola, L. (2016). Tahrir 2011: Contested dynamics of a global media event. In Media Events (pp. 31-52). London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.doi.org/10.1057/9781137574282_3
Tamir, I. & Lehman-Wilzig, S. (2023). The Routinization of Media Events: Televised Sports in the Era of Mega-TV. Television & New Media, 24(1), 106-120. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/15274764221080989
Vaccari, C., Chadwick, A. & O'Loughlin, B. (2015). Dual screening the political: Media events, social media, and citizen engagement. Journal of communication, 65(6), 1041-1061. https://www.doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12187
Wilke, J. (2009). Historical perspectives on media events: A comparison of the Lisbon earthquake in 1755 and the Tsunami catastrophe in 2004. In Media events in a global age (pp. 45-60). New York: Routledge.
Yair, G. (1995). 'Unite, Unite Europe': The political and cultural structures of Europe as reflected in the Eurovision Song Contest. Social Networks, 17(2), 147-161. https://www.doi.org/10.1016/0378-8733(95)00253-k
Yair, G. (2019). Douze point: Eurovisions and Euro-Divisions in the Eurovision Song Contest-Review of two decades of research. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 22(5-6), 1013-1029. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/1367549418776562
Yair, G. & Maman, D. (1996). The persistent structure of hegemony in the Eurovision Song Contest. Acta sociológica, 39(3), 309-325. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/000169939603900303
Ytreberg, E. (2017). Towards a historical understanding of the media event. Media, culture & society, 39(3), 309-324. https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0163443716643155
Details
Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
RIGHTS TRANSFER
By submitting the article for evaluation and subsequent publication in Communication & Society, the AUTHOR exclusively assigns the rights of public communication, reproduction, distribution and sale for commercial exploitation to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, for the maximum legal term in force -the entire life of the author and seventy years after his death or declaration of death-, in any country, and in any of the current and future edition modalities, both in print and electronic versions.
In the event that the article is not accepted for publication , this transfer of rights lapses with the communication of the refusal to the AUTHOR.
The AUTHOR affirms that the article is unpublished, that it has not been sent simultaneously to another publication medium and that the rights have not been transferred exclusively previously. He is responsible to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service for the authorship and originality of his work, as well as for all pecuniary charges that may arise for the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts arising from the breach of obligations by the AUTHOR.