Medialization

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Medialization is a theoretical approach in communication science with which changes in social areas (sport, economy, politics, ...) are explained by the fact that communication is increasingly based on the time horizons, selection rules and role specifications of the media.

This means that social change also takes place on the basis of mass media content and specifications. Blumler and Kavanagh (1999) find an early definition: "Mediatization - the media moving toward the center of the social process."

Whether and to what extent this movement at the center of social processes actually takes place is a question that is discussed by many communication scientists. The main discussion is whether there is a medialization of all social sub-areas. The term thus describes the appropriation or use of media in areas in which this was previously not common. For example, one speaks of a “medialization of politics” or a “medialization of teaching”;

Use of terms

In media and communication studies, there is no consensus on a uniform use of the terms mediatization or medialization, which is why they are used synonymously. Since the term mediatization is historically occupied by historical studies, a standardized use of the term “medialization” is considered to be useful. In addition, the phonetic proximity to the term mediation can also be misconstrued.

Differentiation areas

Medialization is examined in three dimensions:

  1. The delimitation of communication, i.e. the growing merging of media reality and political and social reality,
  2. De-spatialization of communication, i.e. the increasing perception of politics through media-mediated experience and
  3. Duplication of communication, alignment of political action and behavior with the laws of the media system.

Here, get media criticism and media practice to disparate results.

There are two types of medialization:

  1. basal types , e.g. B. Writing , visualization , setting to music ;
  2. technical types , e.g. B. Theatricalization , filming.

The change in perception is always considered:

  1. In the first step, the perception of reality is shifted: What is real is what appears in the media.
  2. In the second step, events are generated for the camera and microphone : Reality becomes the product of media.

Traditional cultures are fundamentally changed by this permanent "self-perception from the outside".

Academic research

Much of the university's research deals with medialization tendencies in politics. The focus is on adapting the actions and behavior of political actors to the logic and norms of the media system. In the meantime, jurisprudence is also concerned with the question of how the media affect the legal system and change legal thinking and legal communication.

For example, before the federal elections in 2002, Hans Mathias Kepplinger and Marcus Maurer carried out a study that examined which competencies the media assigned to the respective candidates and parties and which conclusions the voters drew from them. Voters considered television to be the most important source of information about the current election campaign. The investigation showed, among other things, that voters follow the changes in the tenor of television reporting and consider them to be realistic. Another result of the study is that a decision to vote is not necessarily based on professional competence, but on sympathy with a trustworthy personality. In addition, it has been found that consonant positive reporting has a positive effect on voters and negative contributions reduce voter support. Hence, the immense importance of an independent and uncontrolled press, which is necessary to maintain a democratic society, should be pointed out here. The voters assume that they will find realistic conditions on television and make a corresponding judgment. The authors' comment on this is: "In fact, voters do not orientate themselves to reality, but to their representation, especially on television".

In this social process, television now acts as a decision-making aid for the voter. The voter selects on the basis of the reporting on television, whose makers have previously selected which statements and images are to be broadcast. Clear roles were assigned by television by assigning certain character traits and competencies to the respective politicians. Thus, a decision cannot be made on the basis of real facts, but rather through reality conveyed by the media. Since the effort, frequency and presence of election campaigns on television has multiplied in recent years, this is a good example of mediaization. With the election campaign of the 44th President of the USA Barack Obama, a further milestone was reached in this regard through a disproportionate increase in the use of online media.

In a review of the book The Society of Singularities, media researcher Michael Meyen contrasts the term medialization with the sociological term singularization .

literature

  • Blumler, Jay G. / Kavanagh, Dennis (1999): The Third Age of Political Communication: Influences and Features. In: Political Communication 16, pp. 209-230.
  • Boehme-Neßler, Volker (2008): Fuzzy Law. Considerations for relativizing the law in the digital age. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
  • Donges, Patrick (2006): Mediatization. Bentele, Günter et al. [Ed.]. Lexicon of communication and media studies. Wiesbaden.
  • Kepplinger, Hans Mathias / Maurer, Marcus (2005): Farewell to the rational voter. Why elections are decided on television. Freiburg / Munich.
  • Krotz, Friedrich (2001): The mediatization of communicative action. The change in everyday life and social relationships, culture and society through the media. Opladen: West German publishing house.
  • Mazzoleni, Gianpietro / Schulz, Winfried (1999). "Mediatization" of Politics: A Challenge for Democracy? In: Political Communication, 16 (3), 247-261.
  • Meyen, Michael (2009): Medialization . In: Medien & Kommunikationwissenschaft 57, no. 1, pp. 23–38.
  • Sarcinelli, Ulrich: Mediatization. Jarren, Ottfried, et al. (2002): Political Communication in a Democratic Society. A manual. Opladen / Wiesbaden. P. 678.
  • Sarcinelli, Ulrich (2009). Political communication in Germany. To convey politics in the democratic system. Wiesbaden.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.unifr.ch/mukw/sgkm2008/uploads/P07_Dohle_Vowe_Wodtke.pdf
  2. ↑ Jay G. Blumler, Dennis Kavanagh, 1999 p. 211.
  3. ↑ cf. Donges 2006, p. 164.
  4. ↑ cf. Sarcinelli 2002 pp. 678-679.
  5. ↑ cf. Sarcinelli 2009 p. 143.
  6. ↑ cf. Boehme-Neßler 2008, p. 174 ff. And pass.
  7. ↑ Kepplinger / Maurer 2005 p. 179.
  8. ↑ Kepplinger / Maurer 2005 p. 183.
  9. ↑ Steve Schifferes: Internet key to Obama victories ( English ) BBC. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  10. ↑ singularization vs. Medialization . In: MEDIA REALITY . ( hypotheses.org [accessed July 19, 2018]).