Mediatization, post-truth, and knowledge production about Covid-19 245 networks significantly altering social relationships and political processes. Davis (2019) cites two other keywords of our time - post-truth and post-democracy. Together, this tropological triad indicates a state of uncertainty rather than a convincing description of a new politico-communicative order. The idea of a post-public sphere designates the collapse of an existing model, signaling uncertainty about how long it will take for another set to develop. Of course, we can’t be sure when, or even if, that will happen. In the context of current instability, however, it is worth remembering that structural change has always boosted the conceptions of the public sphere, which resulted in periodic reconstructions of its functioning. The public sphere remains a core concept, heuristic focus, and space for thinking about the practice of democratic pol- itics, although much discussion of mediated political communi- cation deals with it obliquely, and sometimes even advocating its abolition. Its ongoing resonance is evident in the parasitic idea of a post-public sphere, which designates the present state of an unstable play: it signals a transition to an unknown fate. Altered modes of consumption and distribution in a platform economy, the rapid reformulation of the public sphere mediated by press, radio, and TV, and the challenges posed by political uses of social media - all currently interact with sociopolitical divisions in capitalist democracies to radically reshape our understanding of communication. The surge of digital media has generated a whole range of euphoric expectations regarding the public sphere reconfigu- ration. On the one hand, one points out a network emanating from a society characterized by a de-hierarchical structure and a new institutional autonomy of power (CASTELLS, 2011). On the other, one emphasizes the prospect of more inclusive public debates, especially of those segments of the population that his- torically had been marginalized. As a normative concept, the public sphere was a tool that could be used both to fight exclusion and any lack of ac- countability of the State. The public sphere idea could also be mobilized in the struggle for the inclusion of marginalized members of society. The concept can also be used to challenge pre- vailing norms, cultures, and institutions. In this sense, Jürgen
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