This article sheds theoretical and empirical light on the ritual media events constructed around the deaths of three Cold War political leaders in the 1980s: the Finnish president, Urho Kekkonen (1900–1986), the Swedish prime minister, Olof Palme (1927–1986), and the Soviet Union general secretary, Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982). Investigating news articles published in the first days after the news of each death broke, as well as news articles on the funeral for each and the immediate aftermath, this study utilises historical news television and print media material, obtained from the national and media archives in Finland, Sweden and Russia. By bringing the study of media culture and history into a dialogue shared with anthropology and political history, this article produces new knowledge on the workings and outcomes of ritual media events in the context of Cold War history. The article places special emphasis on Victor Turner’s ritual analysis and the ways in which power was symbolically transformed in these societies with different political and ideological histories.

本文对围绕 1980 年代三位冷战政治领导人的死亡而构建的仪式性媒体事件提供了理论和实证的启示：芬兰总统乌尔霍·凯科宁 (Urho Kekkonen) (1900-1986)、瑞典首相奥洛夫·帕尔梅 (Olof Palme) (1927-1986)和苏联总书记勃列日涅夫（1906-1982）。本研究利用从国家和媒体档案中获得的历史新闻电视和印刷媒体材料，调查每起死亡消息传出后第一天发表的新闻文章，以及关于每起死亡事件及其后遗症的新闻文章。芬兰、瑞典和俄罗斯。通过将媒体文化和历史的研究纳入与人类学和政治史共享的对话中，本文对冷战历史背景下仪式媒体事件的运作和结果产生了新的认识。这篇文章特别强调了维克多·特纳的仪式分析以及权力在这些具有不同政治和意识形态历史的社会中象征性地转变的方式。