Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book grows out of an article, which was an intervention into the way media industries have captured engagement in commercial logics. It explores affective connections that generate tonal qualities to media engagement, in particular, in the case studies on public knowledge and social movements during the COVID-19 crisis. The book offers two in-depth case studies using the nexus of relations we see within the parameters of media engagement. It focuses on media and political engagement, drawing on the developments in Belarus since the much-contested presidential election in August of 2020.