Hybrid Media Events by Sumiala Johanna; Valaskivi Katja; Tikka Minttu

Author:Sumiala, Johanna; Valaskivi, Katja; Tikka, Minttu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Published: 2018-05-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Attention

In this chapter, our focus is on the workings of attention in the Charlie Hebdo attacks, particularly on how the circulation and accumulation of attention contributed to the hybridization of this global media event. As discussed earlier in the introduction, we argue that all media events today are largely about a contest for attention, and that the hybrid media environment is based on the logic of the attention economy (Davenport & Beck, 2001). Attention tracking — counting the number of clicks, likes, shares, etc. — has become a major means of media revenue generation, and therefore, all those involved in media events are affected by this logic. Not only mainstream media houses and professional journalists, but also politicians, perpetrators and ordinary media users are keen to attract attention and to try to manage that attention for their own purposes. Attention is most typically accumulated and directed through the circulation of media representations such as news, memes, visuals, texts and videos. Affective and visual contents tend to command attention more easily than neutral contents, and therefore, they are more popular subjects in the circulation of media events (see also Papacharissi, 2015). The following illustrates the workings of attention in the Charlie Hebdo attacks by examining the death of Muslim police officer Ahmed Merabet and the news media and social media halo that followed his death. What we want to show is how the attention around Merabet shaped the meaning making and narrativization of Charlie Hebdo as a media event and how it was applied to moderate the controversy between the different parties in the event, namely the ‘Western’ victims and the Muslim perpetrators.

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