Key event
In communication science, key events are those events that draw media attention to similar events and thus trigger a wave of reports.
Key events are spectacular events that are extensively reported or common events that are spectacularly reported. Similar events that come into the focus of the media public due to the key event are occurrences of the same class of events, for example other railroad accidents after a railroad accident. These are genuine events (events that take place without targeted human influence) that are not triggered by the suspected key event itself (as would be the case, for example, at a press conference on a train accident).
At the same time, however, a key event can also result in staged or mediated events ( events organized for reporting purposes or modified with regard to reporting), which are also included in the reporting as thematically related events .
Key events can trigger apparent waves of events, for example in crime reporting. After spectacular incidents in industrial plants, the impression of series of accidents can arise and influence the population's perception of risk .
Individual evidence
- ^ Kepplinger, Hans Mathias / Habermeier, Johanna (1996): Event series. What can one know about reality after spectacular incidents? In: Mast, Claudia (Ed.): Market - Power - Media. Journalism between social responsibility and economic goals. Konstanz: UVK, pp. 261-272, here p. 261 f.
- ^ Fishman, Mark (1978): Crime Waves as Ideology. In: Social Problems 25 (5), pp. 531-543.
- ^ Kepplinger, Hans Mathias / Hartung, Uwe (1995): Störfall-Fieber. How an accident becomes a key event in a series of accidents. Freiburg, Munich: Alber.