Sorin PETROF defended his PhD thesis on « The Production of Symbolic Forms in the Paradigm of Mystification – Media representations regarding the terrorist attack against the journal Charlie Hebdo » on october 15, 2015, under the direction of Professor DHC Stefan BRATOSIN at the Paul Valéry University of Montpellier, IARSIC-CTS (CORHIS-EA 7400). He is now PhD With Summa Cum Laude in Information and Communication Sciences.
Abstract of the thesis : The present research work advances the following hypothesis – mystification is a communicational strategy manifested through specific trends where the dialectic between obscuring and revealing plays a fundamental role in the production of the symbolic forms. It is therefore proposed that the concept of the mystification paradigm requires a communication model that manifests itself wherever the mediation between sacred and profane and maintaining the symbolic order are required. Media not only use this model as a strategy but function in the mystification paradigm especially when it is supposed to intervene for preserving the social order through a specific production of symbolic forms. To identify recurring themes that arise in the media representations generated by the international press, themes that provides indicators of particular trends that are specific in the mystification paradigm, an empirical analysis of this production and transmision of the symbolic forms has been employed in the special context of the terrorist attack against the journal Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015
