ABSTRACT
Next to informal communication through conversation, formal communication through media also plays a role in conveying ideas, feelings, and behaviors. Sometimes, the media willingly ignore a story for several years, then suddenly “discover” it and makes a fuss about it. The first section of this chapter describes a noteworthy case: The initial silence on the mid1980’s Ethiopian famine, suddenly turning into emphatic coverage. In the second section, we are brought to the phenomenon of media hypes in general, in which all media suddenly devote huge amounts and space to an ongoing event. How should we understand this? The metaprinciples underlying these processes turn out to be those of positive feedback, the self-reinforcing loop, and circular reaction, discussed in the third and final section. Certain filters built into the process become less active; certain amplifiers become more active; the process boosts itself.
