Generally speaking, the study of media events as tools of political communication seems to have mainlyudfocused on “integrative” events, such as sports competitions or staged celebrations (e.g. Dayan & Katz,ud1992; Rivenburgh, 2010). Lately, there have also been calls to study “disruptive” situations, particularlyudterrorist acts (e.g. Katz & Liebes, 2007). Limited attention has been paid to the role that natural disastersudor other catastrophes may play in this realm (e.g. Cottle, 2011). My chapter attempts to contribute in theudlatter line, focusing on the rescue of the Chilean miners of October 2010 and which arguably becameudone of the most relevant media events of recent history. Using Critical Discourse Analysis to examine theudnarratives constructed during the live coverage by local television station TVN and global broadcasterudBBC World News, this chapter argues that, from a theoretical point of view, traditional categories suchudas “integrative” or “disruptive” appear to be ill equipped to deal with the current complexity of mediaudevents. In addition, despite the different accounts constructed by local and global media, media eventsudseem to be much more cohesive and restricted to what has been recently argued by some scholars (e.g.udHepp & Couldry, 2010). Thus, it appears that governments can potentially use catastrophes to buildudnarratives useful to advance different political, economic or cultural purposes. However, in order toudreach that cohesion, a series of controversial issues are left out of these narratives, for instance, in thisudcase, the responsibility of the owners of the mine in the accident, the poor security conditions of theudexcavation site or the fierce control of communications imposed by the government.
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