Media Perspectives on the Thomas
Hearings There are many questions to
consider as you read the sources both on the main
page for this unit and in the related links section
below. As you investigate the media's role in the
Thomas hearings and how the hearings took on a life
of their as a "media event", keep in mind the
following ideas from John Fiskes' Media Matters. He
notes that: He argues that media events
are important even though at times they seem unreal
because they are public struggles over meaning and
power. In the Thomas hearings questions were raised
as a result of who got to speak, when they were
allowed to speak, who was listening to the
speakers, and how each of these situations were
presented through the media. Fiske argues
that: Thus media events are points
of struggle. In the Thomas hearings they came to
represent struggles between conservatives and
liberals, Blacks and whites, Blacks and Blacks, and
men versus women. Keep Fiske's ideas about
media event in mind as you investigate the
following questions concerning the role of the
media in the Thomas hearings. 1) How did the media influence the nomination
process? Was Thomas justified in his claim that he
was a victim of a "high-tech lynching"? 2) Should the media show more restraint in
exploring the private lives of government
officials? Must public figures and government
officials give up their rights to privacy once they
choose a public career? Events and a Metaphor:
The introduction from John Fiske's book, Media
Matters: Race and Gender in U. S. Politics in
which he discusses the importance of "media events"
and the struggle over meaning and power. History 122
The term media
event is an indication that in a
postmodern world we can no longer rely on a
stable relationship or clear distinction between
a "real" event and its mediated representation.
Consequently, we can no longer work with the
idea that the "real" is more important,
significant, or even "true" than the
representation. A media event, then, is not a
mere representation of what happened, but it has
its own reality, which gathers up into itself
the reality of the event that may or may not
have preceded it.
A media event, then,
as a point of maximum discursive visibility, is
also a point of maximum turbulence. . . It also
invites intervention and motivates people to
struggle to redirect at least some of the
currents flowing through it to serve their
interests; it is therefore a site of popular
engagement and involvement.
Related Links
Speaking Truth to
Soundbites: Review of Anita Hill's book
Speaking Truth to Power by The Nation
columnist Patricia Williams.