THE USE OF RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL RITUALS IN CONTEMPORARY COMMUNICATION This article identifies the main characteristics and trends in
the development of media power in the context of increasing its connection with the other
powers in the society, especially with the political and ecclesiastic power. The development
of communication technologies, especially during the last half of a century, has led to the
improvement and increase of the efficiency of communication functions at all levels,
regardless of the distances between those who manage communication and the target
public. The sacerdotal and political powers of our days have taken over the results of
mass–media development in order to use them intensively in the attainment of their own
mission and strategies, seeking to be as successful as possible. An essential way for
fulfilling the goals of political and ecclesiastic power is the intentional use of specific
ceremonies and rituals in the communication exchanges with the public. The “directors”
and “screenwriters” involved in the organization of such spectacles and their media
coverage all over the planet have so perfected this art that the powers receiving extensive
media coverage have become seductive celebrities, increasingly capable of manipulation, for
an increasingly wider public. The author taps into a comprehensive historical,
philosophical, sociological and practical documentation in order to demonstrate the
increase in the functions of audiovisual, verbal and nonverbal communication in our days,
and some perverse effects of this evolution.

THE USE OF RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL RITUALS IN CONTEMPORARY COMMUNICATION. -