Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Religions in the media polis: mediatization, Protestants and politics in Brazil 157 IV – Evangelical-political relationship and the media This agenda described above involves understanding the communicational processes that affect the wide occupation of traditional media spaces by evangelicals, in the last 30 years, through public concessions, a phenomenon called “evangelical electronic coronelismo 4 ” (FIGUEIREDO FILHO, 2010). It also involves understanding the meanings surrounding the popular- ization of the presence of evangelicals in the mainstream media in news and entertainment spaces, as part of the “gospel cul- ture” phenomenon (CUNHA, 2007). Likewise, it includes an as- sessment of the relationship between (new) evangelical political activism and the strong presence of individuals and institutions linked to this religious segment in digital media with numerous websites, blogs, and profiles in social media ( CUNHA, 2017a). It is a fact that the dimension of participation, and the transformation of receivers into emitters, through interac- tion processes made possible by digital media has significantly changed the picture of the church-media relationship, especially with the Internet. When reflecting on social media, a multitude of articulations and spaces is manifest. Churches and Christian groups move from media users – intending to present the Gos- pel and give visibility to it – to participants in a space beyond the boundaries of the sacred and the profane – the media polis, a space of media appearance (Silverstone, 2010), a reality that does not replace the lived experiences but intersects and rep- resents them, a space in which individuals and groups appear to others and vice-versa. In this sense, churches and Christian groups can establish a community, articulate, promote sociality, expose positions in the face of social demands, and discuss them. On the other hand, churches are no longer in control of the sacred and doctrine as they were before (HOOVER, 2014). 4 Coronelismo was the system of machine politics in Brazil under the Old Repub- lic (1889-1930). Known also as the “rule of the coronels”, the term referred to the classic boss system under which the control of patronage was centralized in the hands of a locally dominant oligarch known as a “coronel”, particularly under Brazil’s Old Republic, who would dispense favors in return for loyalty (re- trieved from Wikipedia).