Uninvited Dinner Guests: A Theoretical Perspective on the Antagonists of Journalism Based on Serres’ Parasite

Abstract

In the digital age, the crisis of journalism has been exacerbated by antagonistic actors infiltrating the journalistic system without adhering to its norms or logic. Journalism itself has been ill-prepared to respond to this challenge, but journalism theory and research have also had trouble in grasping these phenomena. It is thus the aim of this article to propose a theoretical perspective on a specific set of antagonists characterized by its paradoxical nature. It is ‘the excluded third, included’ as described by Serres, the parasite that is both part of the system and its antagonist. From the perspective of systems theory, the parasite is a subsystem that threatens the integrity of the primary system. Thus, the parasite is defined by the relations that describe its position, its behaviour towards the host system. Due to these peculiarities—this contradiction, this vagueness—it evades a classical bivalent logic. This may be one reason why the paradoxical nature of the antagonist from within, the ‘uninvited dinner guest,’ has not been described as such until now. The parasitic practices follow the logic of the hacker: He is the digital manifestation of Serres’ parasite. Accordingly, parasitic strategies can be described as news hacks whose attack vectors target a system’s weak points with the help of specific strategies. In doing so, they not only change the system output but also compromise its values and exploit its resources.

“Repressed Opposition Media” or “Tools of Hybrid Warfare”? Negotiating the Boundaries of Legitimate Journalism in Ukraine Prior to Russia's Full-Scale Invasion

“…This paper employed a case study approach to explore how various political and media actors in Ukraine demarcated legitimate journalism amid the controversial revocation of the broadcasting licenses of three Kremlin-backed Ukrainian TV stations. The theory of parasites (Nordheim and Kleinen-von Königslöw 2021) provides a useful analytical tool to interpret the discourse of all three groups of actors considered in the study.…”

“…One possible framework for examining such disruptive practices in the media realm is the theory of parasites (Serres 2007). It defines a parasite of journalism as “a subsystem that threatens the integrity of the primary system” (Nordheim and Kleinen-von Königslöw 2021: 86) by invoking media freedoms and privileges in order to undermine their very basis. Parasitic actors are characterized by three key elements: Their position between the inside and outside of the system (Serres 2007: 107); their compromising effect on the system in which the latter is forced to adjust to the presence of a parasite (Mejias 2010: 615); and their reflexive nature that enables the next parasite to occur (Leanza 2014: 37).…”

“…Drawing on the theory of parasites (Serres 2007) and its application to journalism by Nordheim and Kleinen-von Königslöw (2021), as well as on Voltmer's discussion of media as part of “democratization conflict” (2019), this article examines how such journalism boundary work may play out in the public debate. Taking the case of the sanctions against three Russia-affiliated Ukrainian TV channels introduced by the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) in February 2021, we conduct a thematic analysis of material from a wide range of media sources ( n = 115) to investigate the perspectives of media regulators, as well as sanctioned and non-sanctioned media outlets, on what is legitimate journalism.…”

Remixing News: Appropriation and Authorship in Finnish Counter-Media

“…Various studies on alternative and counter-media have verified a symbiosis between these websites and legacy media, as a significant part of published material links, circulates or refers to original journalism (see, for example, Holt, 2020;Nygaard, 2020;Toivanen et al, 2021). The relationship may be intrinsically asymmetrical, as "parasitic" antagonistic actors work as intermediaries at media system boundaries, drawing strength, strategies, and tools from legacy media and platforms (see Gunkel, 2001, p. 6;von Nordheim & Kleinen-von Königslöw, 2021). It highlights how-in Chadwick's (2017) terms-different types of media not only coexist but form a system that evolves through mutual (inter)actions among older and newer media logics.…”

Journalism and Platforms as Mediating Third Parties in the Digital Public Sphere

“…Neben der funktionalen Differenzierung machen auch die anderen Differenzierungsformen (segmentär, stratifikatorisch, Zentrum/Peripherie) öffentliche Vermittlung notwendig (Jarren 2020). 9 Während hier der professionelle Journalismus von unbezahlter Arbeit profitiert, gibt es mit der Rolle des Parasiten als Drittem auch jene, die Journalismus imitieren oder seine Themen und Recherchen aufgreifen, ohne dazuzugehören(Bruns 2018, S. 48;Nordheim und Kleinen-von Königslöw 2021).…”