Populism, the media, and the mainstreaming of the far right: <i>The Guardian</i>’s coverage of populism as a case study

Brown, Katy; Mondon, Aurélien

doi:10.1177/0263395720955036

Cited by 67 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Herkman (2016) study indicated that populism was typically framed negatively in the Nordic press but that its use was more systematic than in the UK: most often populism was connected to domestic or European right-wing populist actors and their nationalist or nativist ideologies. Using a different approach, Brown and Mondon (2021) demonstrated that populism is often used as a euphemism for racism, nativism and anti-immigration sentiment. However, we know little about the temporal and cross-country generalizability of the emergence of the so-called 'populist hype' and how the mainstream meanings and suggested consequences of 'populism' have changed.…”

Section: 'Populism' As a Political Signifiermentioning

confidence: 99%

Hegemonic meanings of populism: Populism as a signifier in legacy dailies of six countries 2000–2018

Hatakka

Herkman

2022

Media, Culture & Society

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Populism has become a widely used concept in both academia and the media. The term’s popularity has encouraged scholars to question how it is applied and to theorize on the consequences of its use. However, there is little empirical research on the temporal and cross-country changes in the use of the term in the public sphere. This article analyses the significations given to the terms ‘populism’ and ‘populist’ in six countries’ daily newspapers over a period of nearly two decades. It presents the results of a quantitative content analysis of texts ( N = 3252) published in legacy daily papers in Finland, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Turkey in the years 2000–2018. The article shows how the salience, meanings and perceived repercussions of ‘populism’ change over time and vary between the countries. The study reveals how, towards the end of the 2010s, the term is increasingly used in the context of right-wing populism and as a reference to political ideas that are detrimental to democracy. The results are examined in the context of developing academic discussions regarding the effects of ‘populism’ becoming a ubiquitous signifier in the media.

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Section: 'Populism' As a Political Signifiermentioning

confidence: 99%

Hegemonic meanings of populism: Populism as a signifier in legacy dailies of six countries 2000–2018

Hatakka

Herkman

2022

Media, Culture & Society

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“…This feeds into the second key point about elections, in that the way they are interpreted can further contribute to normalization, either through celebrating the perceived defeat of the far right (as in the example above) or through hyping the position of far-right parties as democratic contenders, either in anticipation of results or in subsequent analysis. For instance, we have highlighted elsewhere how the Guardian gave significant space to Steve Bannon's attempt to create a far-right network in preparation for the European parliamentary elections (despite its failure to mobilize) 41 or how its coverage of local elections in Thuringia centred around the second-place finish of the far-right AfD as opposed to the winners Die Linke. 42 Through such hype from mainstream sources, these actors are given a platform from which their ideas may be diffused, and their implied success lends them greater legitimacy and coverage in a vicious circle.…”

Section: Electionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The far right, the mainstream and mainstreaming: towards a heuristic framework

Brown¹,

Mondon²,

Winter

2021

Journal of Political Ideologies

Self Cite

114

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The study of far-right parties and politics is one of the most high-profile research areas in political science and related disciplines. Far-right parties have been the subject of vast amounts of varied scholarship since their turn-of-the-century resurgence. However, as the far right has become a mainstay, with Brexit and the election of Donald Trump in 2016 blurring the boundaries between mainstream and far-right politics, it has become crucial to pay attention to the process of mainstreaming. Beyond a focus on far-right electoral success, studies of mainstreaming, as well as a critical account of the concept and role of the 'mainstream', have proved elusive. This article provides a heuristic framework to understand these concepts and the mainstreaming of the far right. Key to our approach is a more holistic analysis, extending beyond traditional approaches which focus mostly on the electoral outcomes of far-right parties, positioning the mainstream as a relatively inert target or bulwark against them. To achieve this, we seek to reframe the focus towards the centrality of discourse both in the process, and as an outcome, of mainstreaming. Only by doing so can we account for the significant role played by the mainstream in this process.Discussion and debate about the far right, its rise, origins and impact have become ubiquitous in academic research, political strategy and media coverage in recent years. One of the issues increasingly underpinning such discussions is the relationship between the far right and the mainstream, and more specifically, the mainstreaming of the far right. 1 This is particularly clear around elections when attention turns to the electoral performance of these parties. When they fare as well as predicted, catastrophic headlines simplify and hype what is usually a complex situation, ignoring key factors which shape electoral outcomes and inflate far-right results, such as trends in abstention and distrust towards mainstream politics. 2 When these parties do not perform as well as predicted, the circus moves on to the next election and the hype starts afresh, often playing a role in the framing of, and potentially influencing, the process. This trend is not entirely new, 3 and there is no denying that far-right parties and politics have played a significant role in shaping the current political landscape in Europe. Some strong electoral performances attest to this: most recently, the Lega and Austrian Freedom Party formed part of coalition governments in Italy and Austria (if only briefly),

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“…The current hype surrounding the term, and its frequently imprecise application, also have real-world consequences. When the far-right are defined (primarily) as populist, the ideological concepts that are more fundamental to their political programs are concealed (Brown and Mondon, 2020). The blurring of populism and nativism plays into the hands of populist radical right parties as it enables them to disguise their nativism with populism, and thus supports their claims to be down to earth and close to “the people.” This is especially misleading as “populism comes secondary to nativism, and within contemporary European and US politics, populism functions at best as a fuzzy blanket to camouflage the nastier nativism” (Mudde, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What's in a buzzword? A systematic review of the state of populism research in political science

Hunger

Paxton

2021

PSRM

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Although attention to populism is ever-increasing, the concept remains contested. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of populism research and identifies tendencies to a conflation of host ideologies and populism in political science through a two-step analysis. First, we conduct a quantitative review of 884 abstracts from 2004 to 2018 using text-as-data methods. We show that scholars sit at “separate tables,” divided by geographical foci, methods, and host ideologies. Next, our qualitative analysis of 50 articles finds a common conflation of populism with other ideologies, resulting in the analytical neglect of the former. We, therefore, urge researchers to properly distinguish populism from “what it travels with” and engage more strongly with the dynamic interlinkages between thin and thick ideologies.

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Populism, the media, and the mainstreaming of the far right: The Guardian’s coverage of populism as a case study

Cited by 67 publications

References 32 publications

Hegemonic meanings of populism: Populism as a signifier in legacy dailies of six countries 2000–2018

Hegemonic meanings of populism: Populism as a signifier in legacy dailies of six countries 2000–2018

The far right, the mainstream and mainstreaming: towards a heuristic framework

What's in a buzzword? A systematic review of the state of populism research in political science

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