Mediatization

In the 20th century, the term “media logic” was introduced, to denote the influence of independent mass media on political systems and other institutions. (Altheide and Snow, 1979; Strömbäck, 2008; Schultz, 2004; Hjarvard, 2008). In recent years, the idea has been reworked and labeled “mediatization” to widen the framework by including older media, new media, and application areas (Schultz, 2004; Krotz, 2007; Hjarvard, 2008; Lundby, 2009a). At the same time, both notions have lost conceptual coherence and precision.
Mediatization as a “logic” characterizing traditional mass media
According to Strömbäck (2008), Schrott (2009), and Hjarvard (2008), mediatization is characterized as a peculiar media logic as initially articulated by Altheide and Snow (1979), who defined this logic as
The process through which media present and transmitted information. Elements of this form include the various media and the formats used by these media. Formats consist, in part, of how the material is organized, the style in which it is presented, the focus and emphasis on particular characteristics of behavior, and the grammar of media communication. The format becomes a framework or a perspective that is used to present as well as interpret phenomena.
Mediatization as a “media logic” limited to “contemporary” media
The notion of mediatization can be seen as a reflection of the growth of
electronic media during the second half of the 20th century and is most
often applied to this epoch. This is the case for Strömbäck, Schrott, and
Hjarvard, although Hjarvard includes “interactive media” and delimits
the period of mediatization differently. Strömbäck (2008) limits his mediatization focus to journalism, where it:
“can be taken to mean the dominance in societal processes of the news
values and the storytelling techniques the media make use of to take
advantage of their own medium and its format, and to be competitive
in the ongoing struggle to capture peoples attention.”
(Strömbäck, 2008, p. 233)
Among these techniques, Strömbäck includes “simplification, polarization, intensification, personalization, visualization and stereotypization,
and the framing of politics as a strategic game” (ibid.). Here, media logic
is defined on the level of media discourse as an expression of the news
criteria, and the ways in which things are told. The definition of the media logic on the level of “news criteria and the storytelling technique” is accompanied by another definition which contrasts media logic to political logic. The latter is oriented towards obtaining power; the former is oriented “to being competitive in the ongoing struggle to capture people’s attention”. In this way, media logic comes close to market logic.

Sources:

Niels Ole Finnemann. (2011). Mediatization theory and digital media. P. 68-71