Hybrid media events as a heteroglossic mediation opportunity structure: the 2022 Tour de France

Although current debates on media events acknowledge that these episodes are produced by a variety of actors, they often lack a robust theorisation of the asymmetrical power relations between them. Using the hybrid media coverage of the Tour de France 2022 as a heuristic device, we argue that examining media events as a ‘mediation opportunity structure’ offers a productive way to advance these debates. By conceptualising this event as a heteroglossic mediation opportunity structure, comprised of both insider and outsider dynamics, we illuminate not only who these different actors are, but also their shifting interactions and unequal access to symbolic and material resources. Media events therefore emerge not only as contentious episodes of highly mediated visibility, but as arenas where the boundaries of visibility themselves are fought over and policed, thus exposing the shifting architectures of power that shape what can be known, seen and concealed.