Mediation Theory 2

Mediation Theory 2

Mediation theory focuses on the way we receive our view of the world increasingly through the media in the information age.

Mediation takes as its premise the idea that we experience much of the world not from first hand experience, but through media outlets such as television and film.

Take, for example, the events of 11 September 2001: most of the world ‘experienced’ those events in a very real sense; however we saw them through media institutions, rather than through first hand experience. As such, the events were mediated to use through the media.

Where mediation becomes interesting, is in the process of manipulation that can take place. Those that produce the images that we see ( the mediators) have the ability to withhold certain information, and even the choice of creating an image that is altered for their own purposes. They have the ability to replace authentic reality for the manipulated hyperreality.

Take, for example, the soap Eastenders. Is it an authentic vision of East End London, or a fictional version very different from reality?