From Rugby, a knot of reporters and camera men gathered around someone, usually a politician, each trying to shove forward to ask their questions and catch the answers to the others' questions. Also known as a "gangbang".
Often the questions are things that the interviewee has not or does not want to address in a press release or conference. The reporters can and will chase the politician to their car or office, only being diverted by the appearance of someone even more newsworthy.
Note, the scrum is the activity described, not the group of reporters themselves.note
More common in the Commonwealth than elsewhere but ubiquitous in Canadian politics, where the scrum is considered one of the central facets of parliamentary democracy and a cornerstone of freedom of the press. Although certain individuals might choose not to participate (and might be judged accordingly), any government (federal or provincial) that tried to dispose of the scrum in toto might find itself out of a job. Scrums are taken that seriously, by everyone.
On the other hand, the scrum is almost unknown at the highest levels of American politics. The President especially would never be mobbed like this; that's what press conferences note are for (in 2012, a reporter for an online publication attempted to scrum President Obama during an answer and found himself out of the White House Press Corps). The difference is likely to be related to the fact that the US President is both the head of state and the head of government, whereas the Prime Minister of Canada is merely the head of government, and heads of state are always considered of higher rank than heads of government. Protocol-wise the Prime Minister doesn't even come second in line after the actual Head of State, the King—he's third!
note
Lesser politicians and non-politicians can expect them in the US, often from "less legitimate" news agencies. Anyone running for office—including the presidency—can expect to get scrummed (unless, of course, they're already President). Lower offices with smaller constituencies are more likely to have this happen; presidential candidates are more likely to get scrummed during the early primaries (where "retail politics" predominate). Whether this implies a greater respect for the subject's privacy or a lack of journalistic independence is a matter of some debate.
Because of the scrum's central role in Canadian politics, you'll see these featured in all kinds of shows. Comedians have even participated in scrums; Mary Walsh of This Hour Has 22 Minutes once showed up to a scrum on Parliament Hill dressed as Xena and calling herself "Marg, Princess Warrior"—to the apparent amazement and delight of then-Prime Minister Paul Martin.
Media scrums are often fictionalized in Korean Series, often to the point of knocking down the person they want to interview.
Compare Paparazzi.
Examples:
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: In The JoJoLands, as Hacca Howler is driving through the city, he finds himself surrounded by an angry crowd as reporters immediately approach him to question his illegal dealings with the munitions industry that led to his acquisition of a northern land, with him claiming they don't possess any evidence to make those accusations.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War: A newspaper article with Hongo being subjected to this by the Mass Media club is briefly shown in the anime after Kaguya scares him into dropping out the Student Council election.
- The Rebirth of Buddha: Ever since she defeated the fleet of UFOs that wrecked the city during a summer festival, Sayako is constantly harassed by reporters who line up to interview her. However, talk-show host Mari Kimura sets up a press conference for her to reveal the truth of what happened, which the Sounen Group seeks to prevent at all costs.
- Revolutionary Girl Utena: In "The Love that Blossomed in Wintertime", Saionji and Touga are surrounded by microphones and cameras on tripods while they have a conversation. The cameras flash occasionally in response to the things they say, and the equipment spontaneously increases in quantity to the point that it's difficult to make out the characters in the middle of it all, but the people who should comprise the scrum are for all intents and purposes nowhere to be seen.
- Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars: Invoked Trope as Hajime's little sister Futaba imagines that this will happen to the Murata family as the leave the house after their father disclosed the existence of aliens and the Japanese government's communications with them. Defied Trope as their mother says things like that only happen in old movies as the series is set in the future of 2070.
- Supergirl: In When the Symbioship Strikes!, after catching a band of technology robbers, Kara is mobbed by a throng or reporters who are eager to get a story out of the mysterious super-hero who has recently appeared. Kara -who on top of being unable to deal with crowds after her decades-long space trip is feeling annoyed at their demands-, retorts she doesn't owe anybody any explanations and jumps away.
- Superman:
- In Who Took the Super out of Superman?, Clark Kent appears as a witness in court after spending one week missing. Clark is accosted by a throng of reporters as he exits the courthouse, everyone dying to know why, how and where he had disappeared to.
- The Einstein Connection: In the year 2086, Superman is semi-retired and wandering around the galaxy. He is not in mood for interviews, but when a throng of Earth reports manage to find him, Superman decides to give an interview out of professional courtesy.
- In Watchmen, this happens to a distressed and flustered Doctor Manhattan. After a minute or two of the treatment, he cracks under pressure and teleports them all into the parking lot. This emotional outburst kickstarts the tide of public opinion turning against him.
- Wonder Woman:
- Wonder Woman (1942): In #18 a bunch of reporters force their way into General Darnell's office and swarm him with questions about a rumored secret weapon while taking a bunch of pictures before they're escorted out.
- Wonder Woman (1987): After Veronica Cale manipulates things so it looks like one of Wonder Woman's supporters murdered a man who'd been questioning her motives and calling for Wondy to no longer be upheld as a role model, Diana is accosted by a mass of reporters as she exits the Themysciran Embassy. Unlike most who have to deal with such reporters Diana doesn't mind and likes that people are paying attention to and questioning the man's murder.
- Relapse: After the Third Impact, Shinji and Asuka become world-famous and are constantly hounded by the paparazzi. Being two very private and introvert persons, they definitely don't appreciate the attention. Both ex-pilots are especially annoyed when a peaceful and intimate walk for the park is interrupted by a cascade of reporters (or "rat bastards", as Asuka likes to call them), demanding answers on extremely personal and sensitive topics until Asuka scares them away.
- Hoodwinked!: The TV media outlets pepper Grizzly with questions like "Is the house made of gingerbread?" and "Do bears eat gingerbread?" which irritate him into telling another cop to push the crowd back.
- Zootopia (2016): When Nick storms off after the press conference, Judy tries to follow him, but cannot because she is intercepted by a frenzied mob of reporters swarming around her shoving microphones in her face.
- Batman Begins:
- When Bruce is in the police station after his parents' death, there are shots of police holding back the reporters who want to talk to him.
- When Joe Chill is released, he is surrounded by a gaggle of reporters throwing questions at him, one of whom is an assassin for Falcone sent to kill him.
- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) has a crazy crowd of journalists in front of Riggan's hospital room at the end. The police can barely keep them in check.
- MouseHunt: After the mayor chokes to death on a cockroach in Ernie's restaurant, the paparazzi instantly surrounds him to ask if the incident was an accident or deliberate murder.
- Wet Desert: Tracking Down a Terrorist on the Colorado River: Large crowds of reporters accompany the governor of Nevada at Hoover Dam as he makes a press statement on the situation and the attempt to raise the dam with sandbags.
- The Mermaid: Amelia, a mermaid hired as an attraction by P.T. Barnum, attracts so much attention that even in her human form she can't go outside without being mobbed by reporters shouting questions at her.
- Searching for Sky: After Sky and River are "rescued" from the Deserted Island where they spent most of their childhood, Sky is sent to live with her grandmother Alice. For the next few days, they're harassed by crowds of reporters who are fascinated by the story of the castaways and cult children. Alice compares them to vultures and yells at them to get off her property. It's much worse for River, who is legally an adult and has no surviving relatives who want anything to do with him. Alice tries to set him up in an apartment, but he has no one living with him who can stand up to the reporters or even explain what a camera is, and the harassment is part of the reason he leaves his apartment and ends up living under a pier.
- Jackrabbit Messiah: Jack becomes a national celebrity by jumping off a twenty-story building and landing unharmed. When he briefly leaves the hospital to make a statement, he is greeted by a crowd of reporters and a much bigger crowd of screaming fans.
- Babylon Berlin: During 4x7 after the opening montage showing the gang war escalating in Berlin, a crowd of hysterical reporters pesters Gennat on his way to his office, demanding a statement about the security in Berlin.
- Best Love: Gu Ae-jung gets so jostled by reporters trying to interview her that she loses a shoe. But it does lead to a Cinderella moment with her guy.
- The City Hall: As both love interests are in political campaigns, they have to constantly duck around buildings and zigzag through the streets to avoid swarms of reporters.
- NCIS has been forced to deal with this occasionally. In one instance, the Victim of the Week was starring on an exploitative Reality Show featuring models going through boot camp. Gibbs endured the reporters' shoving and jostling until one of them made him spill his coffee.
- The Odd Squad: Mobile Unit episode "Odd Off The Press" has Reporterville, which is full of reporters. Of course, when Osmerelda Kim introduces herself as Opal's replacement in the Odd Squad Mobile Unit at a press conference in the town, reporters are quick to hound her about her role on the team and express shock when she tells them that she hasn't found her role yet. They also hound the Mobile Unit as a whole, especially when the Odd-skateers introduce themselves.
- Criminal Case: The Conspiracy: In case #30, one is held at the beginning of Chapter 2 when news about Martha's death break out, with Chief Parker forcing a very nervous Jones to take care of it.
- In Double Homework, after Dennis leaks new footage of the Barbarossa incident, reporters descend upon the school to ask questions of the protagonist (and presumably Tamara as well).
- Heavy Rain: Ethan will walk into one of these if he attempts to leave his house through the front door after Shaun has been reported missing, but he can slip out the back instead to avoid any hassle (and earn the player a trophy).
- In Kaoru's route of Our Two Bedroom Story, the protagonist, who works for a magazine, ends up participating in such a scrum after the arsonist whose activities she and Kaoru have been covering turns himself in and the media descends in droves on the police station. She takes advantage of the fact that she's smaller and nimbler than most in the overwhelmingly male crowd to navigate to the front and get some photos for her story.
- Grrl Power: Sydney finds a crowd of reporters waiting outside her apartment building the morning after her superheroic debut. She avoids them by flying away. Later, Arianna tells her that she'll be having words with the media about that — while she can't prevent them from being intrusive, she wields hefty carrots and sticks with her control of who does and doesn't get access to future ARCHON events and interviews.
- Sly Cooper: Thief of Virtue: Jack and a mother ends up having to deal with one of these, despite rescuing a child, after shooting an unarmed criminal which he shouts off in anger, true to his nature.
- Stand Still, Stay Silent: The trope gets averted upon the crew's return from the Denmark expedition, as grand total of three reporters show up to greet them. This doesn't keep Sigrun from reacting as if a much bigger group had shown up.
- Unsounded: When Toma's death is announced a swarm of reporters gather outside his wife's home, eagerly pestering any and all visitors with questions while Emne stays inside with her grief.
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force: In "Dirtfoot", Shake attempts to gain popularity by being stuck in a well. Unfortunately for him, the media crew arrives just as Dirtfoot shows up to hug him, ruining his reputation after the news label the two as lovers.
- In the The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "Yellowjacket", Hawkeye gets mobbed by reporters who want to know what the Avengers think about the titular vigilante. Hawkeye later complains that they always come after him whenever bad news related to the team comes up.
- South Park: In "Ginger Cow", after the news learns about the red cow's existence, media outlets arrive to question Cartman about his discovery, while Kyle tries to stop him from instigating all-out war.
