ABSTRACT
A presidential summit is more than a face-to-face meeting between leaders holding the highest office in their respective countries. Although it has all the ingredients to be a media event, it is not exactly so because the festive nature is usually auxiliary, if not cosmetic, in such a context. The summit is not only a site of direct exchanges in an official setting, but also a form of symbolic communication that conveys a sense of great authority, power, and legitimacy of leaders in the diplomatic arena. It is a high-level political drama with profound national and international implications for the individual participants and the countries involved. The whole event is a serious negotiation and accommodation on complex and sensitive issues that are arranged by powerful policy makers across national borders. A presidential summit therefore carries an imprint of personal involvement, public expectation, and potential cross-national consequences. It is not simply a spectacle, but an event that demands media narration.
