Taking a Close Look at the Work of Richard Grusin

Sensationalization, Media & Affective Emotion



In this paper I take a close look at the work of Richard Grusin on premediation and remediation, alongside Brian Massiumi’s idea of the half-life of disaster, to argue how mediation affects current events - specifically through the story of the recent loss of Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Media has played a large part in shaping American history, since its early days in the colonies through today. Media has been used as a tool to influence public perception and opinion. Whether a British vs. an American perspective during the revolution, a distortion by yellow journalism of the 1800s, or in more recent times, and the polarized political ideologies between the republican and democratic parties, media shifts and changes what it deems the public should perceive as important and what can be ignored.

Premediation

Richard Grusin argues that news now “premediates”: it is a predictor or maker of future events, rather than just an outlet to tell of events that are currently happening or have already taken place (1). Events now seem to be inevitable because they are so hyped up before they even happen (Grusin 1). Grusin’s rational behind this occurrence is that it will help to avoid the devastation that comes from large events that take place such as the attacks on September 11th, 2001. By over-sensationalizing upcoming or potential conflicts - such as invading another country, drone strikes, a large shift in administrative policy, etc - the media outlets are desensitizing the public to avoid the outrage once the event actually takes place. The example Grusin gives in his interview is the Iraq War following the 9/11 attacks (Grusin 1). Even with a large base of citizens opposing the id...

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...for ratings and start trying to help the viewers that are watching your programming? How can the media bring better lives to the people affected by the events that they cover, instead of just showing their story and moving on? Will the media follow the families of the 370 tragedy as they did those in the Boston Marathon bombing? Will viewers 10 | P a g e



get to see how they are still being affected by loss of their loved ones; or will they just come back next summer and review what did and did not happen to the plane its self?

Works Cited

CNN Internaional . 25 Aprl 2014.

Grusin, Richard. "Introduction." Grusin, Richard. Premediation: Affect and Mediality After 9/11. 2009. 1-

7.

Grusin, Richard. On Premediatio Geoff Cox. n.d.

Massumi, Brian. "The half-life of Disaster." The Garudian 15 4 2011. online. The New York Times . 25 April 2014.

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