Being there from afar : the media event relocated to the public viewing area

• This article examines the media event as re-located to public viewing areas (PVAs) erected in cities across the globe, where people gather to watch the events together live on screen. The study is based on ethnographic research carried out in PVAs located in selected cities during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2012 Summer Olympics. We examine the relationships between these events, as reconstituted in these different locations through media networks, and the public’s participation via the event on screen.  The PVA emerges as a new location of experience and participation, with its own histories as a place of attraction for the local public and for visitors from afar, in what Massey (1994) would describe as an ‘intersection of local and global social relations’. The host city arena is no longer the self-evident ”centre” for this event, which has been pluralized through the complex web of media structures and the activities of participants who come to experience the event in these other, dispersed locations.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

media event

public viewing areas

public screens

Summer Olympics

FIFA World Cup

media space

locality

tourism

reflexivity

medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap

Media and Communication Studies

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)