Mega-events and mediatisation: between old and new media

Sport mega-events are often referred to as being media-events. This chapter is concerned with the relationship particularly between Olympic mega-events and the media in a period of massive media change involving the digital revolution and the rise of the internet. The chapter’s discussion of these issues in the mediatisation of mega-events is in two parts. The first part is concerned with the changing nature of the media and wider social contexts in which the relationship between the Olympics and media has developed. On this basis it then looks at the symbiotic relationship which developed and continues to endure between the Olympics and the old media, particularly television. The second part introduces the changing social context involved in the growth of new media, together with the potential for the growth of positive relations, a new symbiosis, between the Olympics and the new media.