scholarly journals “What Others Dare Not Say”: An Antisemitic Conspiracy Fantasy and its YouTube Audience

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3.1) ◽  
pp. 35-54
Author(s):  
Daniel Allington ◽  
Tanvi Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Conspiracy Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Historical Discourse ◽  
Video Sharing ◽  
User Comments ◽  
Active Portion ◽  
Anti Jewish

The YouTube video-sharing platform is one of the most important sites for the dissemination of conspiracy theory, or—to give it a more accurately descriptive term—conspiracy fantasy. After surveying the historical and contemporary evidence for the role of conspiracy fantasy in right-wing violent extremism, this article turns its focus to a YouTube video excerpted from a public lecture in which professional conspiracy theorist David Icke purports to expose members of a “Rothschild Zionist” secret society. First, historical discourse analysis is used to situate Icke’s fantasy within the antisemitic tradition of the extreme right. Then, the reception of Icke’s fantasy is studied through quantitative content analysis of YouTube user comments (n = 1123). Comments supportive of the video and its creator are found to outnumber comments that challenge them, as are comments expressing hostility to Jews or extending the video’s accusations against “Rothschild Zionists” to real-world Jewish collectivities. Moreover, the most popular comments are found to be disproportionately likely to be supportive of Icke or his video or otherwise anti-Jewish. These findings provide evidence that at least the active portion of the video’s YouTube audience may have had a tendency not only towards support of Icke’s ideas but also towards linkage of those ideas with an overtly antisemitic worldview. It is argued that YouTube’s ranking of comments by popularity may be serving to insulate harmful fantasies such as Icke’s from rational challenge by rendering genuinely critical responses invisible. This illustrates the dangers of outsourcing the evaluation of content to an online user community. But it also suggests that YouTube’s user interface design may be actively contributing to the spread of misinformation and bigotry by placing those who try to oppose them at a disadvantage. Keywords: antizionism, audience, conspiracism, conspiracy fantasy, conspiracy theory, content analysis, David Icke, discourse analysis, reception, right-wing extremism, YouTube

scholarly journals “What Others Dare Not Say”: An Antisemitic Conspiracy Fantasy and its YouTube Audience

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3.1) ◽  
pp. 35-54
Author(s):  
Daniel Allington ◽  
Tanvi Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Conspiracy Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Historical Discourse ◽  
Video Sharing ◽  
User Comments ◽  
Active Portion ◽  
Anti Jewish

The YouTube video-sharing platform is one of the most important sites for the dissemination of conspiracy theory, or—to give it a more accurately descriptive term—conspiracy fantasy. After surveying the historical and contemporary evidence for the role of conspiracy fantasy in right-wing violent extremism, this article turns its focus to a YouTube video excerpted from a public lecture in which professional conspiracy theorist David Icke purports to expose members of a “Rothschild Zionist” secret society. First, historical discourse analysis is used to situate Icke’s fantasy within the antisemitic tradition of the extreme right. Then, the reception of Icke’s fantasy is studied through quantitative content analysis of YouTube user comments (n = 1123). Comments supportive of the video and its creator are found to outnumber comments that challenge them, as are comments expressing hostility to Jews or extending the video’s accusations against “Rothschild Zionists” to real-world Jewish collectivities. Moreover, the most popular comments are found to be disproportionately likely to be supportive of Icke or his video or otherwise anti-Jewish. These findings provide evidence that at least the active portion of the video’s YouTube audience may have had a tendency not only towards support of Icke’s ideas but also towards linkage of those ideas with an overtly antisemitic worldview. It is argued that YouTube’s ranking of comments by popularity may be serving to insulate harmful fantasies such as Icke’s from rational challenge by rendering genuinely critical responses invisible. This illustrates the dangers of outsourcing the evaluation of content to an online user community. But it also suggests that YouTube’s user interface design may be actively contributing to the spread of misinformation and bigotry by placing those who try to oppose them at a disadvantage. Keywords: antizionism, audience, conspiracism, conspiracy fantasy, conspiracy theory, content analysis, David Icke, discourse analysis, reception, right-wing extremism, YouTube

The Interface Affect of a Contact Zone: Danmaku on Video-Streaming Platforms

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinying Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Video Streaming ◽  
Contact Zone ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Video Sharing ◽  
User Comments ◽  
Theatrical Film ◽  
Affective Experiences ◽  
Affective Intensity

Abstract This essay interrogates the transmedial, transnational expansion of platforms by analyzing the mediation functions and affective experiences of a discursive interface, danmaku. It is a unique interface design originally featured by the Japanese video-sharing platform Niconico to render user comments flying over videos on screen. The danmaku interface has been widely adopted in China by video-streaming websites, social media, and theatrical film exhibitions. Examining the fundamental incoherence that is structured by the interface – the incoherence between content and platform, between the temporal experiences of pseudo-live-ness and spectral past – the paper underlines the notion of ‘contact’ as the central logic of platforms and argues that danmaku functions as a volatile contact zone among conflicting modes, logics, and structures of digital media. Such contested contacts generate affective intensity of media regionalism, in which the transmedial/transnational processes managed by platforms in material/textual traffic are mapped by the flow of affect on the interface.

scholarly journals Scottish Press Coverage of UK General Elections after Devolution: the 2001 and 2005 Campaigns

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Dekavalla
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Press Coverage ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Research Project ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Selection Of

This paper presents preliminary findings from a wider study into the form that political debate takes in Scottish and English/UK newspapers’ reporting of the 2001 and the 2005 UK Elections. The research project aims to contribute to the discussion regarding the role played by the Scottish press in political deliberation after devolution and compares its contribution to the electoral debate with that of newspapers bought in England. This paper explores the results of a content analysis of articles from daily Scottish and UK newspapers during the four weeks of each election campaign period. This reveals that, despite some differences, the overall picture of the coverage of major election issues is consistent. A selection of the coverage of taxation, the most mentioned reserved issue in the 2001 campaign, is subsequently analysed using critical discourse analysis, and the results suggest more distinction between the two sets of newspapers.

scholarly journals The Transformation of the Crimean Tatars’ Institutions and Discourses After 2014

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-66
Author(s):  
Elmira Muratova
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Great Support ◽  
The Face ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
Crimean Tatar

Abstract The article deals with the transformation of the Crimean Tatars’ institutions and discourses after the 2014 conflict around Crimea. It shows the change in the balance of power of traditional institutions such as Mejlis and Muftiyat, which for many years represented secular and religious components of Crimean Tatars’ ethnic identity. It tells how the Mejlis was dismissed from the political stage in Crimea, while the Muftiyat has enjoyed a great support by new authorities. This transformation and threats to societal security inevitably led to reassessment of previous views and goals of the main actors in the Crimean Tatar community and the formation of new institutions with hybrid composition and discourse. The article focuses on organization such as ‘Crimean solidarity,’ which was formed in 2016 as a reaction to authorities’ pressure over the Crimean Tatars. Using discourse analysis of statements of activists of this organization and content analysis of social media, the author presents the main topics of its discourse and types of activity. She shows how the traditional Islamic discourse of activists of this organization has been transformed by the incorporation of the main concepts of secular discourse developed by the Mejlis. The author argues that the appearance of ‘Crimean solidarity’ indicates the blurring of lines between secular and religious, and ethnic and Islamic in the Crimean Tatar society. It shows how people with different backgrounds and agendas manage to leave their differences aside to support each other in the face of a common threat.

scholarly journals ANALISIS FRAMING DALAM PEMBERITAAN MEDIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muzakkir Muzakkir
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Analysis Approach ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
Media Content Analysis ◽  
The Media

Framing analysis is the latest version of the discourse analysis approach, especially for analyzingmedia texts. Framing analysis as a method of media content analysis, classified as a new version.It evolved in unison with the views of the constructors. This paradigm has its own position andoutlook towards the media. News in the view of social construction, is not an event or fact in areal sense. Here reality is not just simply taken for granted as news. It is a product of interactionbetween journalists and facts. In the process of internalization of journalists hit by reality. Realityis observed by journalists and absorbed in the consciousness of journalists. In the process ofexternalization, journalists throw themselves into meaningful reality. Conceptions of facts areexpressed to see reality. The result of the news is the product of the process of interaction anddialectics. There are two aspects to framing that, First; pick facts, second; write down facts.Keywords: Framing Analysis, Newspaper Frame, Impact of News

scholarly journals CONTENT ANALYSIS OF COVID-19 MESSAGES ON SELECT WHATSAPP GROUPS: A NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Umefien Dakoru Epepe
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Semiotics ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Multimodal Discourse Analysis ◽  
Multimodal Discourse ◽  
Analysis Methods ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Official Sources

This study examined novel coronavirus (COVID-19) messages on select Nigeria-based WhatsApp groups. Viewed through the lens of the Rumour Theory, the study applied content analysis and social semiotics (multimodal discourse analysis) methods. Data were elicited from three purposively selected WhatsApp groups, using the constructed and continuous weeks approach. The sample covered 6 weeks (42 days), spread across March, April, and May 2020. Findings from the content analysis showed that texts, comments, and linked message on COVID-19, had the highest frequency. The frequency of messages peaked in March and steeply tapered downwards in April and May 2020. The multimodal discourse analysis demonstrated a preponderance of messages about vaccines, treatment, prevention, lockdown, and conspiracy theories. A significant number of COVID-19 messages were based on rumours and misinformation from spurious sources, with a few from credible sources. The study recommended that to help flatten the misinformation curve, timely, unambiguous and accurate COVID-19 information should be provided from official sources.

Political Information Use and Its Relationship to Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories Among the German Public

2021 ◽  
pp. 107769902110635
Author(s):  
Christian Schemer ◽  
Marc Ziegele ◽  
Tanjev Schultz ◽  
Oliver Quiring ◽  
Nikolaus Jackob ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Service ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Video Sharing ◽  
News Sources ◽  
User Comments ◽  
Tv News ◽  
Party Preference ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Frequent Exposure

This study investigates how exposure to different news sources, propensity to vote (PTV) for a party and demographics are related to belief in conspiracy theories drawing on three repeated cross-sectional surveys in Germany 2017–2019. Results show that frequent exposure to alternative news sites and video-sharing platforms increased conspiratorial beliefs. Frequency of exposure to the quality press, public service TV news, and news aggregators diminished beliefs in conspiracy theories. Exposure to TV news, legacy media online, tabloids, social media, and user comments was unrelated to such beliefs. PTV for far left and right parties increased conspiratorial beliefs, moderate party preference reduced them.

“Yo I am Superman, You Kiddo Go Home”: ritual impoliteness in Chinese freestyle rap battles

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mian Jia ◽  
Shuting Yao
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Filial Piety ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Community Norms ◽  
Moral Qualities

Abstract Introduced by African American communities, Chinese rap battle features an intensive ritual exchange of impoliteness, aggression, and vulgarity, but its linguistic realizations have not been systematically examined. Taking Iron Mic as a case study, this paper explores how advanced and novice rappers perform ritual impoliteness in Chinese underground rap battle competitions. Using mixed methods of discourse analysis and content analysis, we analyze the ritual impoliteness strategies in 51 rounds of Chinese freestyle rap battles. The findings show that advanced and novice rappers employed comparable instances of taboo language, threatening, and insults on their opponents’ superficial qualities and rap skills. Moreover, advanced rappers performed significantly more boasting and ritual insults on the others’ moral qualities. Their use of ritual impoliteness is warranted by hip-hop community norms of authenticity and creativity as well as Chinese social values of reciprocity, filial piety, and moral educators. This paper contributes to the research on Chinese ritual impoliteness and rap battle competitions.

Reclaiming the People: Counter-Populist Algorithmic Activism on Israeli Facebook

2022 ◽  
pp. 152747642110594
Author(s):  
Yoav Halperin
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Interface Design ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Online Ethnography ◽  
The People ◽  
New Form

This article examines a new form of resistance to right-wing populist discourse on social media which I define as counter-populist algorithmic activism. Practitioners of this type of activism exploit platforms’ automated ranking mechanisms and interface design to bolster the online visibility of counter-populist voices. By so doing, activists seek to stymie the digitally mediated spread of right-wing populist rhetoric and advance an alternative, non-exclusionary vision of “the people.” To explore this nascent form of resistance, this study draws on a year-long online ethnography of a Facebook group of Israeli activists called Strengthening the Left Online. Through an observation of the group’s activities during 2017, as well as interviews with its main administrator and other left-wing Facebook users, I elucidate the distinctive nature of the motivations, strategies, and goals that guide counter-populist algorithmic activists.

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