Mediatization Practices of the Russian-Ukrainian War in Political Talk Shows: A Television Device Analysis

The article approaches the mediatization of the Russian-Ukrainian war from the perspective of the predominant information and debate practices in two established political talk shows in the Romanian television sphere. Situated within a constructivist analytical framework, the research discusses the influence of television on audiences in the new media culture and, specifically, the production of regimes of event visibility and audience engagement. Methodologically, the research uses the dispozitive analysis to highlight the strategic organization of television mediatization in relation to the communication project of the media actor. The study demonstrates that both talk shows, conceptualized as dispozitives, have an analytical purpose (of explaining the event) and a warning/alert one. These purposes are, however, achieved differently, depending on the socio-institutional, symbolic and technological particularities of the talk show. The research results are interpreted from the perspective of the performativity of media (televisual) discourse (Broersma, 2019; Dayan, 2015; Chouliaraki, 2006), its potential to establish an emotionally and ethically significant reality for the audience.