Pandemic of (Meta)Media

Media Communication

Simeon Vassilev

Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski”

E-mail: simeonvassilev@gmail.com

Abstract: The article advocates the need for a new genetic test aimed at modern media, which depends largely on the political, economic, and sociological implications for societies. The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 strongly affected the media ecosystem, and the infodemic with its morbid infoviruses, such as fake news, disinformation, and propaganda, is evidence of this. In this sense, the pandemic is a stress test for the media and a major challenge for media ecology. The assumption is that media impact in times of this unprecedented pandemic is of primary significance. The analysis aims to identify the factors for this impact; and it is important to establish whether it comes through metamedia, which control all media, or through the diversity of media and points of view that find a place in an accessible and free media environment. The terms “infodemia”, “infodemiology”, “metamedia”, “metaaudience”, “media ecosystem”, “democratic discourse” along with others have been introduced. A media analysis of publications presenting current events related to the COVID-19 pandemic on a national and international levels is made.

Keywords: media, metamedia, pandemic, globalization, digitalization, communication, media ecology.

Rhetoric and Communications Journal, issue 47, April 2021

Read the Original in Bulgarian