Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Rita Figueiras 120 to enlightened opinion and widespread the consumption of an elite product previously only available in the reference press and consumed by the national elite (FIGUEIRAS, 2009; 2011). Marcelo also brought a new audience profile to the information space, with the other media echoing his views and the TVI news- cast gaining the status of agenda-setter for other media, leading journalists, and the spheres of power in Portugal. The hiring of Rebelo de Sousa by TVI placed the fig - ure of the commentator in Portuguese society on a whole new level. Therefore, the “Marcelo phenomenon” is fundamental to understand why the comment in Portugal became a structuring component of the broadcasting of television channels in the new millennium while consolidated as a space of power. As an inter- face of power, the sphere of commentary is a privileged place for analysis of one of the instances that is, simultaneously, central in the formation of public opinion and the representation of the spheres of power in Portugal. This article focuses on the commentary space, and the commentators, on the prime-time newscasts on generalist and cable television channels in Portugal, between 2000 and 2015. The study views the comment as an indicator of the relationship between the media and politics and uses the concept of the me- diatization of politics to guide empirical research. Adopting this construct as an analytical tool does not mean ignoring the exist- ing debate around it (DEACON; STANYER, 2014; 2015; HEPP et al., 2015; LUNT; LIVINGSTONE, 2016), but recognizing, in line with Frank Esser and Jesper Strömbäck (2014), that the theo- retical framework of the mediatization of politics is relevant to explain the relationship between the media and politics. The rise of digital communication platforms and the cultural imaginary associated with the “ power of flows”, as op - posed to the “flows of power” (CASTELLS, 2009), changed the role and authority of the media . However, in the age of the in- ternet, there is a danger of overestimating dimensions of tech- nological change and underestimating those of social continuity. Hierarchical communication and network communication are two models of social organization that coexist in contemporary societies, as well as in the past, although with different intensi- ties. In this way, as the media define structures for institutional