Networks, Society, and Polis: Epistemological Approaches on Mediatization

Pedro Gilberto Gomes 56 primacy of having created the term “ medialization ” in 1986, written with “ l 8 , ” to draw attention to the growing power of the mass media, and the withdrawal of power from political actors and institutions. The term is older and was used to describe the process of political disempowerment in the early 19th century (between 1802 and 1814) 9 . The neologism mediatization appeared and developed in the scientific community during the 1990s, mainly in publi - cations by German and Scandinavian authors. Schulz says that one of the first contributions was by himself and Gianpietro in 1999 10 . According to Schulz, the purpose of the article was to make this “thirteen-letters” word admissible. For this, they first distinguished it from mediation. While mediation is a neutral term, mediatization denotes problematic or concomitant con- sequences for the development of modern media 11 . He stresses that mediatization is more critical to other models of media dependence. The peak of this submission of the logic of politics to the logic of the media takes place with the consolidation and development of television. Nevertheless, significant changes are taking place in the media world. In the past two decades, media technologies have developed a lot. The transformation took on speed and gained ample broadcast with the so-called Web 2.0, with the introduction of smartphones, easy to deal with, applications, and social net- works, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, among others. 12 This reality considerably transformed the role of the media as an intermediary that connects individuals and institu- tions. Levels, sectors, center, and the periphery of the political system are increasingly weakened. Therefore, all these changes 8 ASP, K. Medialization, Media Logic and Mediarchy . Nordicon Review , v. 11, n. 2, p. 47-50, 1990. 9 SCHULZ, 2017, p. 2. 10 MAZZOLENI, G.; SCHULZ, W. , Mediatization of Politics: A Challenge for Democ- racy ?” Political Communication , v. 16, p. 247-261, 1999. 11 SCHULZ, 2017, p. 3. 12 Ibid,, p.4.