Tramas da convergência: cartografia de dispositivos acoplados na cobertura dos Jogos Olímpicos de Verão pela BBC em 2012

Abstract

This research aims to understand the power and knowledge relationship established between media convergence and Journalism. We seek to investigate the possibility of setting up a hyper dispositive composed of three complementary dispositives assembled historically: Sports, Journalism and Media. Our hypothesis is that contemporary television journalism, in its sporting aspect and in a context of media convergence, can be better understood through the analysis of relationships and processes rather than through the investigation of products and routines, as has been the focus of many previous studies in the area. The BBC coverage of the mega sports event Summer Olympics/2012 has been chosen as the empirical object and reference point. We see it as an opportunity to compare historically the corporation strategies over the years, considering the long relationship between BBC and the Olympic Movement. Thus, our research problem was placed as follows: How and to what extent the media convergence process - understood as a hyper dispositive constituted from the assemblage of the dispositives Sports, Journalism and Media - interfered with the BBC´s coverage of the mega sports event Summer Olympic Games/2012? And, more broadly, how the unveiling of the intricate online and offline relationships that permeate the media convergence study may contribute to the understanding of contemporary communication processes? This theme was investigated based on the dialogue between two analytical approaches: genealogy of relations of knowledge-power (FOUCAULT, 1999) and dispositive cartography (DELEUZE-GUATTARI, 1995). The link between Foucault's thoughts, Deleuze and Guattari, in conjunction with current approaches to cartographic methods, proved fruitful because it allowed an understanding of the various layers forming these relationships in a historical process complicated by contemporary communication environments. The results of our research highlight the recognition of an intricate polyphonic and multidimensional liaison, conformed genealogically, in which conflicts constituted relevant factors to the understanding of media convergence as a process in permanent state of motion, although it is possible to identify deeply sedimented layers; the perception of television Journalism specialized in sports as a hybrid element, capable of combining multi, inter and transmedia characteristics, depending on the knowledge-power relations established; the possibility of thinking the hyper dispositive as a facilitator atlas for reading the multiple maps resulting from the cartography of dispositives methodology proposed here.