Between mainstream and alternative – co-orientation in right-wing populist alternative news media

Frischlich, Lena; Klapproth, Johanna; Brinkschulte, Felix

Forschungsartikel in Sammelband (Konferenz) | Peer reviewed

Zusammenfassung

Alternative news media with a right-wing populist leaning are flourishing.They pitch themselves as opposition to a hegemonically interpreted mainstreamnews media system. Yet, at the same time, they rely on the so criticizedothers to justify their own existence. Using a co-orientation framework, the currentstudy asked in how far right-wing populist alternative news media orientthemselves towards the mainstream. Using a qualitative content analysis of all 658 websites referenced by a popular right-wing conspiracy-theoretical YouTuberin Germany, we demonstrate that distinct source types were quoted. Referencesranged from mainstream news media up to ultra-right wing truther blogs. Aquantitative examination of the content-analytical categories confirmed significantdifferences between mainstream news media and right-wing populist blogs, withspecial interest and alternative news media ranging in between these poles. Alternativenews media were overall found to orient themselves stylistically stronglytowards the mainstream but less so regarding their content selection. Particularly,the top sources, accounting for over 76% of all references, were mostly rootedin the alternative ultra-right-wing ecosystem. In sum, our analyses showed howstylistic co-orientation is used to build a bridge towards the mainstream whilecontent-related co-orientation towards other ultra-right-wing alternative sourcesallows for validating one's own right-wing populist worldview.

Details zur Publikation

Herausgeber*innenGrimme Christian, Preuß Mike, Takes Frank, Waldherr Annie
BuchtitelDisinformation in open online media
Seitenbereich150-167
VerlagSpringer
ErscheinungsortWiesbaden
Titel der ReiheLecture Notes in Computer Science
StatusVeröffentlicht
Veröffentlichungsjahr2020
Sprache, in der die Publikation verfasst istEnglisch
KonferenzMISDOOM 2019, Hamburg, Deutschland, Deutschland
StichwörterAlternative news media; Co-orientation; Mainstream news media; Qualitative content analysis; Germany; Right-wing populism

Autor*innen der Universität Münster

Brinkschulte, Felix
Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft
Frischlich, Lena
Professur für Kommunikationswissenschaft, Schwerpunkt: Onlinekommunikation (Prof. Quandt)
Klapproth, Jana Johanna
Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft