Social Media Enter the Stadium: a Case Study on the Political Economy of Media at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Just prior to the opening of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, a 21-year-old Georgian luger died after his sled left the Whistler Sliding Centre track traveling at 140 kilometres an hour. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, Leanne Ritchie examines how Canadian media discursively constructed social media users and their sharing of the images, video, and opinions following the tragedy. The results show a tendency in traditional media to discursively construct social media as outsiders, separate from the audience. It?s an in-depth look at how Canadian media pushed Canadian social media users to follow traditional media norms and etiquette while Canada was in the Olympic spotlight.