"הייתי בשוק שהוא בכלל פותח מצלמה": תיעוד עצמי מהשבעה באוקטובר כמדיאטיזציה מוגפנת: [מתוך המדור: מיני סימפוזיון: מדיאטיזציה מוגפנת]

This article integrates three domains of inquiry: mediatization, media witnessing, and media and trauma studies. While these fields have traditionally focused on how documented events affect public audiences, they have paid little attention to the perspective of individuals who experience, document, and disseminate such events in real time. This relatively new, yet increasingly prevalent phenomenon, is shaped by a cultural landscape in which nearly everyone carries a smart device, rendering immediate documentation possible, even in life-threatening situations. The article's unique contribution lies in a suggested shift in focus: rather than analyzing how video footage is received by audiences, it examines the embodied act of filming and sharing videos, in the form of improvised journalistic performance amidst danger. The argument is grounded in the spontaneous self-documentation by survivors of the October 7th attack, proposing that these recordings function as real-time media witnessing in an era of deep mediatization. To frame this phenomenon, we introduce the concept of embodied mediatization, which highlights the entanglement of corporeal and media practices within such contexts. The very existence of these communicative acts amid trauma reflects the deep influence of media logic on the individual phenomenological level. Embodied mediatization involves individuals adopting a quasi-journalistic stance, which becomes an increasingly normalized and even expected reaction to extreme events. This mode of action encompasses individual concerns about the credibility and authenticity of media witnessing, but also functions as a crucial coping mechanism in moments of crisis. In this mediatized age, one cannot clearly distinguish between bodily reactions and media practices, thus media choices form part of individual survival strategies. The act of producing testimony is influenced by an internalized demand for credibility, which becomes a motivating force operating at intuitive, pre-reflective levels, guiding perception, and shaping individual choices and experience in real time.