Press rites and race relations: A study of mass‐mediated ritual

Abstract

James Carey's classic call for a ritual view of communication serves as the point of departure for an examination of the concept of mass‐mediated ritual. Ironically, Carey's brief sketch of a news reading ritual emphasizes privatized consumption of mythologized news content and thus yields a “transmission view” of the concept. On the other hand, symbolic anthropology, particularly Victor Turner's concept of social drama, insists upon a view of ritual as a public performance in which conflictual as well as consensual social meanings may be enacted. This conceptual framework is applied to press coverage of events that have had significant consequences for race relations and mayoral politics in a major American city.