The Other Side of Mediatization: Expanding the Concept to Defensive Strategies

Abstract

Most research on mediatization focuses on media-related actions and structural adaptations that aim to increase media attention. However, social actors may also opt for defensive strategies and try to avoid media publicity. In this article, we conceptualize defensive and offensive mediatization strategies as complementary methods that social actors use to deal with media publicity and public attention as well as to proactively shape mediatization processes. We employ an exploratory approach to identify and systematize defensive mediatization strategies. Consequently, we contribute to a more complete understanding of mediatization and provide starting points for further empirical analyses of media-related strategies used by social actors. A secondary analysis of the data from previous research projects suggests establishing three categories of defensive mediatization strategies—persistence, shielding, and immunization—with regard to the levels of individual actors, organizations, and social systems’ routines and norms.

Mediatization in Times of Pandemic: How German Grassroots Sports Clubs Employed Digital Media to Overcome Communication Challenges During COVID-19

“…In studies of mediatization as process, two research traditions have emerged ( Hepp, 2013 ), focusing respectively on how social actors adapt the logic of news media to manage public attention ( Nölleke et al, 2021 ) and how everyday social practices are increasingly entangled with media technologies ( Couldry & Hepp, 2017 ). The present study adopts the latter approach to explore how sports clubs have employed emerging media technologies to ensure and enhance communication by mitigating the effects of social distancing.…”

“…The present study adopts the latter approach to explore how sports clubs have employed emerging media technologies to ensure and enhance communication by mitigating the effects of social distancing. Crucially, scholars emphasize that mediatization is not imposed or merely contingent but should rather be understood as a “pull” process, in which social actors (individual and collective) ascribe increasing meaning to the role of media in their everyday life and in pursuit of strategic objectives ( Hepp, 2020 ; Nölleke et al, 2021 ). To that extent, the increasing strategic use of media technologies in social domains is a significant indicator of mediatization.…”

Sanattomien sopimusten puolustajat: eduskunnan perustuslakivaliokunnan suhde mediajulkisuuteen

“…SpörerWagner ja Marcinkowski 2010;Strömbäck ja Van Aelst 2013, 353;Marcinkowski 2014, 13). Medioituminen voi olla puolustautuvaa: median aktiivista välttelyä ja siltä suojau tumista (Scheu 2019;Nölleke, Scheu ja Birkner 2021). Oikeudelliset toimijat ja instituutiot ovat tästä hyvä esimerkki.…”

“…Media voi synnyttää jännitteitä (Kunelius ja Reunanen 2012;Lundby 2014, 27), jotka edellyttävät pikemminkin medialta suojautumista kuin sen näkyvyyden tavoittelua (ks. Marcinkowski 2014, 13;Scheu 2019;Nölleke, Scheu ja Birkner 2021).…”

Mediatized Engagements with Technologies: “Reviewing” the Video Assistant Referee at the 2018 World Cup

“…Our analysis of the video assistant referee in football builds on but also adds to this field of research. Often, the “media manifold” (Couldry & Hepp, 2018) that characterizes mediatization is only discussed with respect to the parallel existence of different dissemination systems (say: newspapers, television, social media) and how they impact the interrelation between athletes, sports organizations and with fans (e.g., Hutchins & Mikosza, 2010; Hutchins, 2016; Nölleke et al, 2021; Skey et al, 2018). Going beyond that, sports—and VAR especially—directs our attention towards aspects of mediatization that result from an uneasy mix between the media reporting on sports (media “out there,” according to Frandsen (2016)) and the media used to organize the actual activities (“in there”).…”