News

===News events===
As the technological means for disseminating news grew more powerful, news became an experience which millions of people could undergo simultaneously. Outstanding news experiences can exert a profound influence on millions of people. Through its power to effect a shared experience, news events can mold the [[collective memory]] of a society.<ref>Salmon, ''The Newspaper and the Historian'' (1923), pp. 211–213.</ref><ref>Park, "News as a Form of Knowledge" (1940), pp. 685–686. "In fact, the multiplication of the means of communication has brought it about that anyone, even in the most distant part of the world, may now actually participate in events—at least as listener if not as spectator—as they actually take place in some other part of the world. We have recently listened to Mussolini address his fascist followers from a balcony of Rome; we have heard Hitler speaking over the heads of a devout congregation in the Reichstag, in Berlin, not merely to the President, but to the people, of the United States. We have even had an opportunity to hear the terms of the momentous Munich agreement ten seconds after it had been signed by the representatives of four of the leading powers in Europe and the world. The fact that acts so momentous as these can be so quickly and so publicly consummated has suddenly and completely changed the character of international politics so that one can no longer even guess what the future has in store for Europe and for the world."</ref>

One type of news event, the [[media event]], is a scripted pageant organized for a mass live broadcast. Media events include athletic contests such as the Super Bowl and the Olympics, cultural events like awards ceremonies and celebrity funerals, and also political events such as coronations, debates between electoral candidates, and diplomatic ceremonies.<ref>Dayan & Katz, ''Media Events'' (1992), pp. 1–14.</ref> These events typically unfold according to a common format which simplifies the transmission of news items about them.<ref>Dayan & Katz, ''Media Events'' (1992), pp. 25–53.</ref> Usually, they have the effect of increasing the perceived unity of all parties involved, which include the broadcasters and audience.<ref>Dayan & Katz, ''Media Events'' (1992), p. 196.</ref> Today, international events such as a national declaration of independence can be scripted in advance with the major news agencies, with staff specially deployed to key locations worldwide in advance of the life news broadcast. Public relations companies can participate in these events as well.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Paterson | first1 = Chris | last2 = Andresen | first2 = Kenneth | last3 = Hoxha | first3 = Abit | title = "The manufacture of an international news event: The day Kosovo was born"; | journal = Journalism | volume = 13 | issue = 1| pages = 103–120 | year= 2011 | doi=10.1177/1464884911400846| s2cid = 145715955 }}</ref>

The perception that an ongoing crisis is taking place further increases the significance of live news. People rely on the news and constantly seek more of it, to learn new information and to seek reassurance amidst feelings of fear and uncertainty.<ref>Perse, ''Media Effects And Society'' (2001), 57–61.</ref> Crises can also increase the effect of the news on social cohesion, and lead the population of a country to "rally" behind its current leadership.<ref>Perse, ''Media Effects And Society'' (2001), 73–76.</ref> The rise of a global news system goes hand in hand with the advent of [[terrorism]] and other sensational acts, which have power in proportion to the audience they capture. In 1979, the [[Iran hostage crisis|capture of American hostages in Iran]] dominated months of news coverage in the western media, gained the status of a "crisis", and influenced a presidential election.<ref>Hachten, ''World News Prism'' (1996), pp. 73–77.</ref>

South Africans overwhelmingly describe the end of Apartheid as a source of the country's most important news.<ref>Danie Du Plessis, "What's News in South Africa?" in Shoemaker & Cohen, ''News Around the World'' (2006), p. 303. "Virtually all references to the political significance of news events refer to the historical events of the first part of the 1990s. Current political events are overshadowed so greatly by the start of the political process in South Africa that they have lost much of their significance to the participants. Both black and white participants in the focus group shared this response."</ref> In the United States, news events such as the assassinations of the 1960s (of [[the assassination of John F. Kennedy|John F. Kennedy]], [[Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.|Martin Luther King, Jr.]], and [[Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy|Robert F. Kennedy]]), the 1969 [[Moon landing]], the 1986 [[Space Shuttle Challenger|Space Shuttle ''Challenger'']] explosion, the 1997 death of Princess Diana, the [[Bush v. Gore|intervention of the Supreme Court]] in the [[2000 United States presidential election|2000 presidential election]] and the 2001 [[September 11 attacks]].<ref>Elizabeth A. Skewes and Heather Black, "What's News in the United States?" in Shoemaker & Cohen, ''News Around the World'' (2006), p. 329.</ref> In Jordan, people cited numerous memorable news events involving death and war, including the death of [[King Hussein]], Princess Diana, and [[Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin|Yitzhak Rabin]]. Positive news stories found memorable by Jordanians featured political events affecting their lives and families—such as the [[South Lebanon security belt|Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon]], and the [[Israel–Jordan peace treaty]].<ref>Mohammed Issa Taha Ali, "What's News in Jordan?" in Shoemaker & Cohen, ''News Around the World'' (2006), p. 252.</ref>

News coverage can also shape collective memory in retrospect. A study of Israeli news coverage leading up to the media event of the nation's 60th birthday found that news coverage of events like the Holocaust, World War Two, and subsequent Israeli wars increased the perceived importance of these events in the minds of citizens.<ref>Neta Kliger-Vilenchik, "Memory-Setting: Applying Agenda-Setting Theory to the Study of Collective Memory"; in ''On Media Memory'' (2011), ed. Neiger, Myers, & Zandberg; pp. 233–234. Also see: Neta Kliger-Vilenchik, "Setting the collective memory agenda: Examining mainstream media influence on individuals' perceptions of the past"; ''Memory Studies'' 7.4, October 2014.</ref>