Rethinking the Logics: A Conceptual Framework for the Mediatization of Politics

Abstract

This article suggests a conceptual framework for the mediatization of politics. It critically discusses the concepts of “media logic” and “political logic” emanating from the political communication literature and argues that “normative logic” and “market logic” are more appropriate concepts for the theoretical understanding and empirical analysis of the behavior of mass media and political actors. These two logics guide media and political actors' issue selection and presentation to different degrees. The mediatization of politics in this account takes place when both media and political actors adapt their behavior to the audience-oriented market logic. This process works in parallel with the economic integration and technological progress comprised by the term globalization, thereby challenging established institutional mechanisms in advanced democracies

Researching Transforming Communications in Times of Deep Mediatization: A Figurational Approach

“…It is less helpful to understand (mass) media as a domain of their own in the sense of a certain social field or system, and to investigate their influence on other social domains in a way that 'media logic' (Altheide and Snow 1979) would colonize the logics of other domains. For a critique of such an approach see for example (Strömbäck 2008;Esser 2013;Landerer 2013), who all ask for further concretization of 'media logic as a metaphor' (Hjarvard 2017). Beyond such a need to make the idea of media logic more concrete, there is a second problem about theorizing media as a domain of its own that relates closer to the character of present deep mediatization: when digital media permeate the various domains of society (Livingstone 2009: 2f.…”

Media Coverage of 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum From Mediatization Theory Perspective

“…То есть она обнаруживается тогда, когда редакция при принятии решения о том, каким образом будут освещаться политические события, руководствуется логикой медиа, а не логикой политики [Cushion, 2014]. На данный момент в литературе поня тие политической логики развито слабо и требует дальнейшего уточнения [Landerer, 2013]. Тем не менее его концептуализация всегда подразумевает тот факт, что суть политики состоит во властном принятии решений и их реализации [Strömbäck, 2008].…”

“…Коммерциализация СМИ, развитие новых медиа привели к росту уровня конкуренции между различными изданиями и видами СМИ . Борьба между медиа за аудиторию затронула П. Д. Гусева МЕДИАСОЦИОЛОГИЯ и область политики, привнеся изменения как в поведение политических акторов [Landerer, 2013], так и в медиаосвещение политических событий [Cushion, 2014]. Усиление роли медиа в политической сфере получило в литературе название медиатизации политики.…”

Introduction

“…Among the most common criticisms of the concept of media logic are that it is too elusive and vague, that it suggests a linearity and singularity that is not there, that it lends itself to technological determinism, or that it may hide important patterns of social interactions (see e.g. Couldry 2008;Lundby 2009;Landerer 2013). Some of this criticism may be justified-but it also depends on how media logic and political logic are understood.…”