Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190923624
- eISBN:
- 9780190923662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190923624.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
This chapter presents the book’s macrolevel findings about the architecture of political communication and the news media ecosystem in the United States from 2015 to 2018. Two million stories ...
More
This chapter presents the book’s macrolevel findings about the architecture of political communication and the news media ecosystem in the United States from 2015 to 2018. Two million stories published during the 2016 presidential election campaign are analyzed, along with another 1.9 million stories about Donald Trump’s presidency during his first year. The chapter examines patterns of interlinking between online media sources to understand the relations of authority and credibility among publishers, as well as the media sharing practices of Twitter and Facebook users to elucidate social media attention patterns. The data and mapping reveal not only a profoundly polarized media landscape but stark asymmetry: the right is more insular, skewed towards the extreme, and set apart from the more integrated media ecosystem of the center, center-left, and left.Less
This chapter presents the book’s macrolevel findings about the architecture of political communication and the news media ecosystem in the United States from 2015 to 2018. Two million stories published during the 2016 presidential election campaign are analyzed, along with another 1.9 million stories about Donald Trump’s presidency during his first year. The chapter examines patterns of interlinking between online media sources to understand the relations of authority and credibility among publishers, as well as the media sharing practices of Twitter and Facebook users to elucidate social media attention patterns. The data and mapping reveal not only a profoundly polarized media landscape but stark asymmetry: the right is more insular, skewed towards the extreme, and set apart from the more integrated media ecosystem of the center, center-left, and left.
Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190923624
- eISBN:
- 9780190923662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190923624.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
This chapter examines how Breitbart, interacting with Donald Trump the candidate, made immigration the Republican Party’s main election agenda, despite the desire of party leadership to stay away ...
More
This chapter examines how Breitbart, interacting with Donald Trump the candidate, made immigration the Republican Party’s main election agenda, despite the desire of party leadership to stay away from that issue. It shows that Breitbart did so by keeping up a steady flow of misleading stories that associated immigration wigth terrorism, the spread of incurable disease, criminality, and abuse of the welfare system. It also considers how Islamophobia allowed Breitbart to serve as a link between the frank racism and anti-semitism of the white nationalists and the more muted racial anxiety of the more mainstream white- and Christian-identity pillars of the Republican coalition. Finally, it discusses the ways in which the network of right-wing sites interacted during the month before the 2016 presidential election to weave together the Islamophobia frame and the Clinton corruption frame to make for a coherent narrative designed to convince wavering Republicans to vote for Trump.Less
This chapter examines how Breitbart, interacting with Donald Trump the candidate, made immigration the Republican Party’s main election agenda, despite the desire of party leadership to stay away from that issue. It shows that Breitbart did so by keeping up a steady flow of misleading stories that associated immigration wigth terrorism, the spread of incurable disease, criminality, and abuse of the welfare system. It also considers how Islamophobia allowed Breitbart to serve as a link between the frank racism and anti-semitism of the white nationalists and the more muted racial anxiety of the more mainstream white- and Christian-identity pillars of the Republican coalition. Finally, it discusses the ways in which the network of right-wing sites interacted during the month before the 2016 presidential election to weave together the Islamophobia frame and the Clinton corruption frame to make for a coherent narrative designed to convince wavering Republicans to vote for Trump.
Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, and Hal Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190923624
- eISBN:
- 9780190923662
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190923624.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Intellectual Property, IT, and Media Law
This chapter examines how mainstream media operated in a propaganda-rich environment by focusing on its failure and recovery modes. In particular, this chapter analyzes two central attributes of ...
More
This chapter examines how mainstream media operated in a propaganda-rich environment by focusing on its failure and recovery modes. In particular, this chapter analyzes two central attributes of mainstream media and professional journalism that shaped election coverage, and in some cases made them particularly susceptible to being manipulated into spreading right-wing propaganda: balance and the scoop culture. The chapter first considers how internal dynamics of news reporting led mainstream media to emphasize the email investigation over substantive discussion of politics. The chapter then shows how Breitbart exploited the hunger for scoops, along with the public performance of objectivity and critical remove of mainstream journalism, to utilize the credibility of the New York Times, and later other major publications, to propagate and accredit the “Clinton corruption” frame. Finally, the chapter describes the failures and corrective mechanisms surrounding the recipients of President Donald Trump’s Fake News Awards for 2017.Less
This chapter examines how mainstream media operated in a propaganda-rich environment by focusing on its failure and recovery modes. In particular, this chapter analyzes two central attributes of mainstream media and professional journalism that shaped election coverage, and in some cases made them particularly susceptible to being manipulated into spreading right-wing propaganda: balance and the scoop culture. The chapter first considers how internal dynamics of news reporting led mainstream media to emphasize the email investigation over substantive discussion of politics. The chapter then shows how Breitbart exploited the hunger for scoops, along with the public performance of objectivity and critical remove of mainstream journalism, to utilize the credibility of the New York Times, and later other major publications, to propagate and accredit the “Clinton corruption” frame. Finally, the chapter describes the failures and corrective mechanisms surrounding the recipients of President Donald Trump’s Fake News Awards for 2017.
