Rhetoric of tetrad media [articol]

Abstract

In the digital age, the great development of the media means of communication require a method of analysis for the new technologies. Through a metatheoretical analysis we evaluate, from a methodological point of view, the theory of tetrad media. Based on four items (enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval and reversal), four laws concerning the impact and development of every form of communication can be discovered, formulated and analysed. We consider that tetrad media provides a simple theory of media effects that can be critically used to evaluate the ways in which a particular means changes the cultural processes in the societies that adopt it. Finally, we argue in favour of the tetrad media as a qualitative method of analysis in communication sciences.