Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Ana Paula da Rosa 204 These elements allow us to realize that the first em - pirical object in our field of observation has many nuances; it is at the border of the logics, between the media and the media- tization ones. Nevertheless, the images generated are not only registers but images that produce something, circuit-images, since they are a kind of igniter for new circulations and strains in multiple media and dispositifs . The circuit-image operation highlights the power of the web as access, but also the need for a tactical elaboration of the use of the medium as an interactive dispositif. It is not Twitter alone, but Twitter as a space for con- tact and affecting both journalistic institutions and social actors. The other component of our analysis, linked to the fact of the attack on eastern Ghouta in 2018, is a 15-year-old teen- ager. Muhammad Najem makes use of social networks to share videos and selfies, especially on Twitter 8 . What sounds like an ordinary action changes figure when we realize that the teen - ager reports the bombings that hit the city where he lives, as well as the imminence of death that mixes in his daily life. Like other boys, from other closed regimes, Najem (Figure 05) makes use of media knowledge constituted through the cultural indus- try (entertainment and journalism), therefore media logics, to produce what Castells (2016) calls an auto-broadcast 9 . 8 htt ps://twitter.com/muhammadnajem20/status/961666477853151232/ photo /1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tvi24. iol.pt% 2Finternacional%2Fmuhammad-najem%2Fmuhammad-o-jovem- de-15 -anos-que-nos-mostra-a-guerra-na-siria-nas-redes-sociais. 9 Mass self-communication is, for Castells, the communication that follows the standards and rules of the mass media but is produced by an individual actor in his/her space with a focus on wide visibility.