Between Journalistic and Movement Logic: Disentangling Referencing Practices of Right-Wing Alternative Online News Media

Mayerhöffer, Eva; Heft, Annett

doi:10.1080/21670811.2021.1974915

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Alternative news outlets are therefore able to fill important political information niches ( Heft et al 2020 ). The content produced by such sites need be understood as situated between a journalistic and a political movement “logic”, with reporting and argumentation styles mimicking journalistic standards in their engagement with content, but still employing an activist interpretation of events ( Mayerhöffer and Heft 2021 ). Claiming to provide a “corrective” to what is seen as a dominant public discourse emanating from mainstream media ( Holt et al 2019 ), they have been shown to draw-in audiences with a high interest in politics and strong ideological beliefs ( Müller and Schulz 2021 ): on the right, for example, these sites are especially used by those with strong anti-migration attitudes ( Schulze 2020 ).…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

News, Threats, and Trust: How COVID-19 News Shaped Political Trust, and How Threat Perceptions Conditioned This Relationship

León

Makhortykh

Gil‐López

et al. 2022

The International Journal of Press/Politics

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This study explores shifts in political trust during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, examining the role that media consumption and threat perceptions played in individuals’ trust in politics. We combine panel surveys taken before and during the first nation-wide lockdown with webtracking data of participants' online behaviour to paint a nuanced picture of media effects during the crisis. Our work has several findings. First, political trust, an attitude known for its stability, increased following lockdown. Second, consumption of mainstream news on COVID-19 directly hindered this increase, with those reading more news having lower over-time trust, while the relatively minor alternative news consumption had no direct effect on political trust. Third, threat perceptions a) to health and b) from the policy response to the pandemic, have strong and opposite effects on political trust, with threats to health increasing trust, and threats from the government policy response decreasing it. Lastly, these threat perceptions condition the effect of COVID-19 news consumption on political trust: perceptions of threat had the power to both exacerbate and mute the effect of media consumption on government trust during the pandemic. Notably, we show that the expected negative effect of alternative news on political trust only exists for those who did not think COVID-19 posed a threat to their health, while public service news consumption reduced the negative effect produced by government threat perceptions. The paper therefore advances our understanding of the nuanced nature of media effects, particularly as relates to alternative media, especially during moments of crisis.

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Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

News, Threats, and Trust: How COVID-19 News Shaped Political Trust, and How Threat Perceptions Conditioned This Relationship

León

Makhortykh

Gil‐López

et al. 2022

The International Journal of Press/Politics

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“…Relatedly, this paper contributes new knowledge to the field of media studies by showcasing how alternative media promote ideologically driven far-right world views, rather than functioning as a form of corrective source of information. While this is not in itself a new discovery (e.g., Figenschou and Ihlebæk, 2019; Haanshuus and Ihlebæk, 2021; Mayerhöffer and Heft, 2022; Nygaard, 2019; Schroeder, 2020), the reliance on Islamophobia specifically, no matter the relevance to the topic of reporting, is however a new finding. In highlighting this, the current paper exposes the extents to which far alternative media are willing to exploit a topic to promote an ideological position beyond what has been previously identified.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Considering that over time, the appearances of these sites have grown increasingly professional-looking (Figenschou and Ihlebaek, 2019) and that the digital setting in which these news outlets operate, allow them to bypass the journalistic and press ethical standards of legacy news media, they risk posing a harmful role in the media landscape (Schroeder, 2020). Consequently, alternative media have sometimes been described as a cross between journalism and political activism (Mayerhöffer and Heft, 2022).…”

Section: The Power Of (Alternative) News Mediamentioning

confidence: 99%

Refugees versus ‘refugees’: the role of Islamophobia in Swedish alternative media’s reporting on Ukrainian asylum seekers

Palmgren,

Åkerlund,

Viklund

2023

Media, Culture & Society

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This paper analyses how immigrants are understood by Swedish alternative media and the role that Islamophobia plays, if at all, in these representations. What is remarkable is that although all articles were sampled explicitly to discuss Ukraine, the analysis showed that Muslim immigrants figured with unexpected frequency throughout. The value of these two immigrant groups were antagonistically contrasted through arguments of alleged differences in culture and geographical origin, perceived legitimacy as asylum seekers, and in terms gratitude and supposed level of threat to Swedish society. With this, the unity that is formed around Islamophobia trumps any nationalist views of the Swedish nation state as particularly superior or white and the social and economic consequences which are usually believed to be at risk due to immigration. By extension, the war in Ukraine is articulated as a matter of whiteness and works to exploit war for strengthening the transnational far right.

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“…Through hyperlinking external content from a variety of digital platforms and media sites, active participants can latch on to a broader information environment online. Such cross-platform references also support and provide background for their claims (Klein, 2012; Mayerhöffer & Heft, 2022) to distribute information and promote the visibility of like-minded actors, organizations, and content further; mobilize for action; or criticize and distance themselves from opponents (Ackland & Gibson, 2013; Theocharis et al, 2015). With both strategies, Querdenken’s participants comprise a networked counterpublic conducive to fostering particular actors and issue agendas.…”

Section: Querdenken As a Digital Counterpublicmentioning

confidence: 98%

Pandemic Protesters on Telegram: How Platform Affordances and Information Ecosystems Shape Digital Counterpublics

Buehling,

Heft

2023

Social Media + Society

Self Cite

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This study analyzes how platform affordances, their appropriation by movement actors, and these actors’ leveraging of information ecosystems—in combination—helped form a digital counterpublic during the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on public communication data sent by more than 300 Telegram channels and group chats affiliated with the Querdenken movement over a 2-year period, and combines automated and manual text classification with network analysis. The study demonstrates how Telegram afforded connective and collective action in distinct ways that reflected the movement’s organizational structure and aims, as well as the impact of individual information-sharing on the process of movement-building itself. Accounting for time-dependent dynamics, the study also found that different parts of the counterpublic latched onto and sustained distinct information ecosystems to articulate their claims and mobilize contentious action.

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Between Journalistic and Movement Logic: Disentangling Referencing Practices of Right-Wing Alternative Online News Media

Cited by 29 publications

References 32 publications

News, Threats, and Trust: How COVID-19 News Shaped Political Trust, and How Threat Perceptions Conditioned This Relationship

News, Threats, and Trust: How COVID-19 News Shaped Political Trust, and How Threat Perceptions Conditioned This Relationship

Refugees versus ‘refugees’: the role of Islamophobia in Swedish alternative media’s reporting on Ukrainian asylum seekers

Pandemic Protesters on Telegram: How Platform Affordances and Information Ecosystems Shape Digital Counterpublics

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