As stated by Strömbäck (2008), the analysis of mediatization as a process of four phases, is mainly restricted to Western democracies in the period after World War II.
Hjarvard (2008) also maintaines that "Mediatization is no universal process that characterizes all societies. It is primarily a development that has accelerated particularly in the last years of the twentieth century in modern, highly industrialized, and chiefly western societies, i.e., Europe, USA, Japan, Australia and so forth. As globalization progresses, more and more regions and cultures will be affected by mediatization, but there may be considerable differences in the influence mediatization exerts".
So trying to make use of the theory's innovations and four dimensions in analysing the media's role in the current civil wars in the Middle East, with its authoritarian regimes, lack of democracy, and media for an extent to act as part of this chaos, is a real challenge. Can mediatization apply for such type of analysis? Primarily, how can we measure in an academic work, the degrees to which media is independent from the political institution?
Dear Hussein, that's an interesting question. I largely agree with Dr Zaid above. With the rise of social media like facebook and twitter, citizen journalism like WikiLeaks and the explosion of "fake news" like Breitbart there has definitely been a change in the media ecology. I highly recommend Yochai Benkler's article on "The Networked Fourth Estate", which deals with some of the issues, as well as his more recent work on Fake News. Manuel Castells has also done some interesting work in this area, especially, "Networks of Outrage and Hope. Social Movements in the Internet Age." (Cambridge, MA, Polity Press, 2012).
Regards,
Iain
Thanks dear Ziad, and sorry for late response, i do agree with you in regard of social media, chiefly after the Arab Spring uprisings. Still, I think the Satellite TV media have its word in the arena. By the end of the day, in terms of newsworthiness and credit, S TV is a resource for social media.
Thanks for you Iain too, the references you mentioned sounds valuable.
I still wonder if the degrees of media independence from the political institution (as a crucial factor for media role), is empirically measurable, while the Satellite TV channels, consider themselves as free, on the ground, they are siding and inclined as a result of subsidies or affiliations.
Hussein
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