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Who Am I Now? : Existential Dilemmas in the Wake of Media Scandals

Hammarlin, Mia-Marie LU orcid (2011) The Mediation of Scandal and Moral Outrage
Abstract
In the modern age of mediated visibility, media scandal is an immense risk that threatens to destroy the lives of people who have become the focus of public attention. The paper is concerned with the question of how the individual is affected by the attention when the media hype a story.

Empirically, it is based upon in-depth interviews with Swedish persons who have been in the epicenter of scandals, causing headline news, day after day, week after week. In their stories we find answers on seldom posed questions within this particular field of interest, as how it feels to publicly and repeatedly be called a liar, an imposter, or a thief, and be confronted with pictures of oneself underneath these headlines. That the personal... (More)
In the modern age of mediated visibility, media scandal is an immense risk that threatens to destroy the lives of people who have become the focus of public attention. The paper is concerned with the question of how the individual is affected by the attention when the media hype a story.

Empirically, it is based upon in-depth interviews with Swedish persons who have been in the epicenter of scandals, causing headline news, day after day, week after week. In their stories we find answers on seldom posed questions within this particular field of interest, as how it feels to publicly and repeatedly be called a liar, an imposter, or a thief, and be confronted with pictures of oneself underneath these headlines. That the personal consequences of media scandals are severe may not be to any surprise, but the paper explores the relatively unknown dimensions of damage for the individual and puts new light on the eternal scientific question of media power. The interviewees had a hard time (to put it mildly) during the weeks when the scandal was revealed in multiple media channels all over the country, but when the journalists put the story aside, in favour of other stories, and when we –as regular media consumers– have forgotten about the whole issue, a new painful phase begins for the victim. They bear witness of a prolonged suffering that ends approximately three years after the first outbreak.

Through phenomenological, existential and anthropological theories, the paper analyses how a media scandal can shatter the lifeworld into fragments, difficult to interpret. Because, who am I, if I am not the one I thought I was, and that everyone else seems to be convinced I never was? (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to conference
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Media scandal, emotions, existentialism
conference name
The Mediation of Scandal and Moral Outrage
conference location
London, United Kingdom
conference dates
2011-12-16
project
Mediedrevets mekanismer och aktörer (finaniserat av HT-fakulteterna/financed by the Faculties of Humanities and Theology, Lund University
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b678e3b2-361d-4e13-8807-68223d371a43
date added to LUP
2016-08-01 14:54:05
date last changed
2023-04-14 03:00:09
@misc{b678e3b2-361d-4e13-8807-68223d371a43,
  abstract     = {{In the modern age of mediated visibility, media scandal is an immense risk that threatens to destroy the lives of people who have become the focus of public attention. The paper is concerned with the question of how the individual is affected by the attention when the media hype a story. <br/><br/>Empirically, it is based upon in-depth interviews with Swedish persons who have been in the epicenter of scandals, causing headline news, day after day, week after week. In their stories we find answers on seldom posed questions within this particular field of interest, as how it feels to publicly and repeatedly be called a liar, an imposter, or a thief, and be confronted with pictures of oneself underneath these headlines. That the personal consequences of media scandals are severe may not be to any surprise, but the paper explores the relatively unknown dimensions of damage for the individual and puts new light on the eternal scientific question of media power. The interviewees had a hard time (to put it mildly) during the weeks when the scandal was revealed in multiple media channels all over the country, but when the journalists put the story aside, in favour of other stories, and when we –as regular media consumers– have forgotten about the whole issue, a new painful phase begins for the victim. They bear witness of a prolonged suffering that ends approximately three years after the first outbreak. <br/><br/>Through phenomenological, existential and anthropological theories, the paper analyses how a media scandal can shatter the lifeworld into fragments, difficult to interpret. Because, who am I, if I am not the one I thought I was, and that everyone else seems to be convinced I never was?}},
  author       = {{Hammarlin, Mia-Marie}},
  keywords     = {{Media scandal, emotions, existentialism}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  title        = {{Who Am I Now? : Existential Dilemmas in the Wake of Media Scandals}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}