Ana Paula da Rosa 230 3. Deep mediatization, hyper-mediatization: What are we talking about? The term mediatization is increasingly immersed in tensions. Like other concepts like globalization, it is being ap- propriated. For some, it is merely synonymous with being in the media and its influence, while for others, it is a heuristic key to understanding the current moment of society. The differences in perspectives are not an issue. The challenge is to deal with the concept without losing its identity and strength. It is not related only to the naturalization of concepts but also to what Verón pointed out in 1997 about neologisms and their impact on ongoing processes. For instance, in the late 1990s, Eliseo Verón (1997, p. 9) raised questions about hyper-mediatization, a term discussed at a Paris conference. “La hipermediatización resul- taría de los múltiplos medios, los programas hipertextuales y la explosión provocada por esta suerte de hipertexto planetario que es la internet. El calificativo de hiper aludiría entonces no solo a una ‘vuelta de terca’ más en el proceso de mediatización.3” However, the author considered that the idea of a mediatization enhancer, its hyper form, merely placed the concept in the hall of semantic operators, similar to terms like globalization and, as we can point out now, platformization. In his work, Verón pointed out the risk that terms may lose meaning, not because they lose strength as a process, but because their interpretations fail to explicit them, just like anal- yses have a euphoric effect. The concept involves reflecting on how social change entails hyperboles and neologisms. There is no issue with this creative movement; the concern is: how do these approaches surpass or deviate from the already broad and complex concept of mediatization? Carlón (2020) regards hyper-mediatization as an addi- tional stage in the complexity of mediatization, especially within semiotic networks, that is, within networks where meaning is intricately woven. 3 “Hypermediatization would result frommultiple media, hypertextual programs and the explosion caused by this kind of planetary hypertext that is the Internet. The term hyper would then refer not only to another ‘stubborn turn’ in the me- diatization process.” (free translation).
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