UC Davis political scientists Amber Boydstun and Jill Laufer publish a Cambridge book on media storms

Professor Amber Boydstun and recent PhD Jill Laufer (now Assistant Adjunct Professor at the University of California, Sacramento Center) have co-authored a Cambridge Element book, titled Catching Fire in the News, asking the question: Why do some events catch fire in the news, producing a media storm, while many similar events go all but unnoticed? They use a fire triangle analogy to explain the necessary conditions of media storms. The “heat” is the spark: a dramatic event or discovery. The “fuel” is the political and cultural landscape, including similar items in recent news, and current debates that allow the event to be framed in a resonant way. The “Oxygen” is the available news agenda space, plus attention the event receives beyond the news (by activists, politicians, people on social media, etc.). In short, they find that media storms are not easily predictable; it takes the right event, at the right time, with the right momentum of attention. But when the political stars align, and a media storm erupts, it can be a window of opportunity for change. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009498432