an article by Ceri Hughes (University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA) published in European Journal of Communication Volume 34 Issue 3 (June 2019)
Abstract
The 2016 vote to leave the European Union was one of the biggest developments in recent United Kingdom political history. Only one political party was wholly united for Brexit – the United Kingdom Independence Party.
This research finds that in the years leading up to Brexit, the United Kingdom Independence Party presented itself as a rigid core-issue complete-populist party. Content analysis shows how pervasive the European Union was in much of the party output and in the contemporaneous newspaper coverage of the party.
The party also utilizes complete-populist rhetoric, with ‘othering’ populism as the most prevalent form. The consistent concentration on the European Union collocated with populist messaging, in both news releases and select newspaper coverage, may have helped afford the United Kingdom Independence Party issue-eliteness in the referendum campaign.
But this same work may have also ultimately contributed to make them irrelevant by 2017, and possibly moribund by 2018.
Hazel’s comment:
So irrelevant that Farage set up yet another minot political party!
Showing posts with label political_communication. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political_communication. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 June 2019
Thursday, 2 May 2019
Digital Propaganda: The Tyranny of Ignorance
an article by Cassian Sparkes-Vian (University of the West of England, UK) published in Critical Sociology Volume 45 Issue 3 (May 2019)
Abstract
The existence of propaganda is inexorably bound to the nature of communication and communications technology.
Mass communication by citizens in the digital age has been heralded as a means to counter elite propaganda; however, it also provides a forum for misinformation, aggression and hostility.
The extremist group Britain First has used Facebook as a way to propagate hostility towards Muslims, immigrants and social security claimants in the form of memes, leading to a backlash from sites antithetical to their message.
This article provides a memetic analysis, which addresses persuasion, organisation, political echo chambers and self-correcting online narratives; arguing that propaganda can be best understood as an evolving set of techniques and mechanisms which facilitate the propagation of ideas and actions. This allows the concept to be adapted to fit a changing political and technological landscape and to encompass both propaganda and counter-propaganda in the context of horizontal communications networks.
Abstract
The existence of propaganda is inexorably bound to the nature of communication and communications technology.
Mass communication by citizens in the digital age has been heralded as a means to counter elite propaganda; however, it also provides a forum for misinformation, aggression and hostility.
The extremist group Britain First has used Facebook as a way to propagate hostility towards Muslims, immigrants and social security claimants in the form of memes, leading to a backlash from sites antithetical to their message.
This article provides a memetic analysis, which addresses persuasion, organisation, political echo chambers and self-correcting online narratives; arguing that propaganda can be best understood as an evolving set of techniques and mechanisms which facilitate the propagation of ideas and actions. This allows the concept to be adapted to fit a changing political and technological landscape and to encompass both propaganda and counter-propaganda in the context of horizontal communications networks.
Thursday, 12 April 2018
The disinformation order: Disruptive communication and the decline of democratic institutions
an article by W Lance Bennett (University of Washington, USA) and Steven Livingston (The George Washington University, USA) published in European Journal of Communication Volume 33 Issue 2 (April 2018)
Abstract
Many democratic nations are experiencing increased levels of false information circulating through social media and political websites that mimic journalism formats.
In many cases, this disinformation is associated with the efforts of movements and parties on the radical right to mobilize supporters against centre parties and the mainstream press that carries their messages. The spread of disinformation can be traced to growing legitimacy problems in many democracies.
Declining citizen confidence in institutions undermines the credibility of official information in the news and opens publics to alternative information sources. Those sources are often associated with both nationalist (primarily radical right) and foreign (commonly Russian) strategies to undermine institutional legitimacy and destabilize centre parties, governments and elections.
The Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump in the United States are among the most prominent examples of disinformation campaigns intended to disrupt normal democratic order, but many other nations display signs of disinformation and democratic disruption.
The origins of these problems and their implications for political communication research are explored.
Abstract
Many democratic nations are experiencing increased levels of false information circulating through social media and political websites that mimic journalism formats.
In many cases, this disinformation is associated with the efforts of movements and parties on the radical right to mobilize supporters against centre parties and the mainstream press that carries their messages. The spread of disinformation can be traced to growing legitimacy problems in many democracies.
Declining citizen confidence in institutions undermines the credibility of official information in the news and opens publics to alternative information sources. Those sources are often associated with both nationalist (primarily radical right) and foreign (commonly Russian) strategies to undermine institutional legitimacy and destabilize centre parties, governments and elections.
The Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald Trump in the United States are among the most prominent examples of disinformation campaigns intended to disrupt normal democratic order, but many other nations display signs of disinformation and democratic disruption.
The origins of these problems and their implications for political communication research are explored.
Monday, 13 October 2014
Framing fraud: Discourse on benefit cheating in Sweden and the UK
an article by Ragnar Lundström (Umeå University, Sweden) published in European Journal of Communication Volume 28 Number 6 (December 2013)
Abstract
This article analyses discourse on benefit fraud in Swedish and British newspapers. It furthermore compares discourse on fraud in newspapers and political blogs in the two countries. In Sweden, fraud is primarily articulated as a collective social problem in policy discussions related to the health insurance programme. In the UK, it is often articulated employing strategies commonly associated with crime news narratives, and centred on images of individual cheaters.
The main result of the analysis presented here is that these observed differences between British and Swedish media representations are related to the ways in which the relationship between the welfare state and the citizens traditionally have been constructed in liberal and social democratic contexts respectively. Political attempts to highlight the issue of benefit fraud, and dominant media representations of such attempts, must therefore be understood not as attempts to combat fraud, but rather as attempts to delegitimise the more general aim and purpose of the welfare state.
They challenge the deservingness of welfare recipients in general, not just the ones that cheat, and they thereby transform the conditions for public trust in the welfare state. News discourse on fraud in both countries establishes a neoliberal, financialised and individualised notion of welfare dependency, through which the relationship between social and structural circumstances on the one hand, and poverty, exclusion and inequality on the other, become blurred.
The comparison of newspapers and blogs suggests that although dominant media representations are contested through citizen-created journalism in both contexts, they also limit the conditions for discursive struggles over the issue of benefit fraud significantly.
Abstract
This article analyses discourse on benefit fraud in Swedish and British newspapers. It furthermore compares discourse on fraud in newspapers and political blogs in the two countries. In Sweden, fraud is primarily articulated as a collective social problem in policy discussions related to the health insurance programme. In the UK, it is often articulated employing strategies commonly associated with crime news narratives, and centred on images of individual cheaters.
The main result of the analysis presented here is that these observed differences between British and Swedish media representations are related to the ways in which the relationship between the welfare state and the citizens traditionally have been constructed in liberal and social democratic contexts respectively. Political attempts to highlight the issue of benefit fraud, and dominant media representations of such attempts, must therefore be understood not as attempts to combat fraud, but rather as attempts to delegitimise the more general aim and purpose of the welfare state.
They challenge the deservingness of welfare recipients in general, not just the ones that cheat, and they thereby transform the conditions for public trust in the welfare state. News discourse on fraud in both countries establishes a neoliberal, financialised and individualised notion of welfare dependency, through which the relationship between social and structural circumstances on the one hand, and poverty, exclusion and inequality on the other, become blurred.
The comparison of newspapers and blogs suggests that although dominant media representations are contested through citizen-created journalism in both contexts, they also limit the conditions for discursive struggles over the issue of benefit fraud significantly.
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
All the news that’s fit to post: A profile of news use on social networking sites
an article by Carroll J. Glynn and Michael E. Huge (The Ohio State University) and Lindsay H. Hoffman (University of Delaware) published in Computers in Human Behavior Volume 28 Issue 1 (January 2012)
Abstract
Facebook and other social networking sites (SNSs)1 are altering the way individuals communicate. These online environments allow users to keep up with friends, network with colleagues, and share their personal views and observations with others. Previous work describes typical social networking site users as young, extroverted, and technologically savvy. Little research exists, however, on the emerging role of news in the social network environment. With over 500 million global Facebook users, both print- and television-based media outlets are making concerted efforts to become part of this important and increasingly ubiquitous virtual world. The present study uses a sample of students, faculty, and staff from a large university to investigate the factors that are related to news use on Facebook. Findings indicate that while news use is still a minor component of overall social network site activity, certain key variables, such as gender and life satisfaction, have a significant impact on how Facebook is used for news-related purposes. Future implications for news in the social networking world are presented and discussed.
Facebook and other social networking sites (SNSs)1 are altering the way individuals communicate. These online environments allow users to keep up with friends, network with colleagues, and share their personal views and observations with others. Previous work describes typical social networking site users as young, extroverted, and technologically savvy. Little research exists, however, on the emerging role of news in the social network environment. With over 500 million global Facebook users, both print- and television-based media outlets are making concerted efforts to become part of this important and increasingly ubiquitous virtual world. The present study uses a sample of students, faculty, and staff from a large university to investigate the factors that are related to news use on Facebook. Findings indicate that while news use is still a minor component of overall social network site activity, certain key variables, such as gender and life satisfaction, have a significant impact on how Facebook is used for news-related purposes. Future implications for news in the social networking world are presented and discussed.
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