Protecting against repercussions of journalism. Re-conceptualizing mediatization in regard to defensive adaptations to news media logic.

Most research on the meaning of mediatization for journalism focuses on media-related measures that aim at attracting media attention. However, social actors may also opt for defensive strategies and try to avoid media attention. This tactic has implications for journalism as it might limit the access to events and the availability of sources. We argue that defensive measures follow the same rationale as progressive adaptations. Consequently, we conceptualize them as a further facet of mediatization. Moreover, we demonstrate the relevance of such measures by systemizing defensive adaptations on micro-, meso- and macro-levels of social fields. We test our systematization against data from different research projects conducted by authors of this paper. Theoretical considerations as well as empirical results suggest to differentiate between three categories of defensive adaptation: persistence, shielding, and immunization. We discuss these adaptations with regard to their meaning for mediatization theory and their implications for journalistic practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]