How Right-Wing Populist Comments Affect Online Deliberation on News Media Facebook Pages

Right-wing populist user comments on social media are said to impair online deliberation. Right-wing populism’s anti-pluralist and conflict-centered message might hinder deliberative debates, which are characterized by reciprocity, arguments, sourcing, politeness, and civility. Although right-wing populism has been found to foster user interaction on social media, few empirical studies have examined its impact on the scope and deliberative quality of user debates. This study focuses on debates on 10 Facebook pages of Austrian and Slovenian mass media during the so-called "refugee crisis" of 2015–2016. Proceeding in two steps, we first analyze how right-wing populist user comments affect the number of reply comments using a dataset of N = 281,115 Facebook comments and a validated, automated content analysis. In a second step, we use a manual, quantitative content analysis to investigate how right-wing populist comments affect the deliberative quality of N = 1,413 reply comments. We test five hypotheses in carefully modeled regression analyses. Our findings show that right-wing populist comments trigger replies but impair their deliberative quality. People-centric comments decrease the probability of arguments in replies, and anti-immigrant comments spark incivility. Countering populism further increases impoliteness. We discuss our findings against the backdrop of an increasingly uncivil online public sphere and populism’s ambivalent relationship with democracy

Critical Discourse Analysis: Media Representation of the Refugee

Magistrsko delo Kritična analiza diskurza medijskih reprezentacij begunca se loteva problematike izkrivljanja realnosti o beguncih skozi medijsko poročanje, v času »begunske krize« v letih 2015 in 2016. Skozi zgodovinski okvir naslavlja prevladujoči konflikt Evropa – islam, ki se je močno zasidral v evropski in pa tudi nacionalni identiteti. Omenjeni antagonizem se skozi slovensko nacionalno identiteto utrjuje na mitološki percepciji slovenskega »Drugega«, ki ga predstavlja Turek na Balkanu. Medijski teksti predstavljajo gradnike nacionalne identitete in so tako polni negativnih predstav o tujcih. Nacionalna identiteta namreč vedno nastane na podlagi drugačenja. Metodologijo empiričnega dela predstavlja kritična analiza diskurza, z ozirom na Faircloughov model analize medijskih tekstov. Za študijo primera so izbrani teksti tiskanih in spletnih izdaj Slovenskih novic, v obdobju t. i. silvestrskega napada v Kölnu. Na podlagi opravljene analize je bilo ugotovljeno, da Slovenske novice begunce v splošnem predstavljajo kot grožnjo. Grožnjo varnosti, socialni državi, kulturnim normam in ustaljenemu zahodnemu načinu življenja. Medijski diskurz je torej negativen in zavajajoč in kot tak reproducira stereotipe, ksenofobijo in islamofobijo. V poročanju o silvestrskem napadu na ženske se je pokazalo, da so žrtev omenjenega incidenta pravzaprav »beli« moški. Pokazalo se je, da je s prihodom beguncev ogroženo imetje »naših moških« - to so »naše ženske«. Begunci so tako prikazani kot kradljivci »naših žena«, s čimer je evropska ženska prikazano kot blago, tak diskurz pa utrjuje lastniški in patriarhalen odnos do žensk.Master’s dissertation Critical Discourse Analysis: Media Representation of the Refugee deals with the issue of distorting the reality of refugees through media coverage during the time of the »refugee crisis« in 2015 and 2016. Through a historical framework, it addresses the prevailing Europe-Islam conflict, which has become firmly entrenched in European as well as national identity. The mentioned antagonism is reinforced through the Slovenian national identity on the basis of the mythological perception of the Slovenian »Other«, represented by the Turk in the Balkans. Texts in the media represent the building blocks of national identity and are thus filled with negative perceptions of foreigners. National identity is always formed on the basis of differentiation. The methodology of the empirical part is represented by a critical discourse analysis, with respect to the Fairclough’s model of media text analysis. The texts of the printed and online issues of the Slovenske novice newspaper during the period of the commonly named New Year’s Eve attack in Cologne, were selected for the case study. Based on the analysis it was found that Slovenske novice newspaper generally depict refugees as a threat. A threat to security, the welfare state, cultural norms and the established Western way of life. The media discourse is therefore negative and deceiving and as such reproduces stereotypes, xenophobia and islamophobia. The report of the New Year’s Eve attack on women represents »white« men as the victims of said incident. The arrival of refugees was shown to endanger the property of »our men«- these are »our women«. Refugees are thus portrayed as thieves of »our wives«, hence the European woman is portrayed as a commodity, and such discourse reinforces the proprietorial and patriarchal attitude towards women

Current trends in digitalisation

Destinacijski marketing je v zadnjih dveh desetletjih doživel pravo preobrazbo zaradi razvoja interneta in sodobne IKT tehnologije. To je označeno z globalno koncentracijo moči digitalnih platform in spremembami, ki sledijo družbenoekonomskim krizam v zadnjih dveh desetletjih. Osrednji del komuniciranja turističnih destinacij oziroma DMO-jev danes poteka prek uradnih spletnih strani in družbenih omrežij, kot so YouTube, Facebook, Instagram in v zadnjih letih Tik Tok. Prav tako je s pojavom pandemije COVIDA-19 veliko DMO-jev razširilo svojo promocijo tudi z virtualnimi vsebinami, in sicer s 360-stopinjski posnetki destinacij, znamenitosti, muzejev, z VR ogledi, s pomočjo VR očal in z AR mobilnimi aplikacijami. V marketinških kampanjah so v tem času nagovarjali goste, naj spoznavajo lastno državo oziroma da so varna destinacija, in jih vabili k obisku. Uporaba novih tehnologij, ki se uporabljajo tudi v promocijske namene, je ključnega pomena za ohranjanje konkurenčnosti destinacij na trgu. Digitalizacija je prinesla številne nove priložnosti, poleg tega pa tudi izzive pri vključevanju novih tehnologij v promocijo destinacij.Destination marketing has undergone a real transformation in the last two decades due to the development of the internet and modern ICT technology. The development of digitalisation processes in the past two decades has gone hand in hand with global market concentration and has seen disruptive changes primarily after the main socio-economic crises of the past two decades. An important part of the communication of tourist destinations or DMOs now takes place through official websites and social networks such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and in recent years, Tik Tok. Also, with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, many DMOs have expanded their promotion with virtual content, including 360-degree shots of destinations, landmarks, museums, VR tours with VR glasses and AR mobile apps. During marketing campaigns, DMOs urged guests to get to know their own country or that they are a safe destination and invited them to visit. The use of new technologies, which are also used for promotional purposes, is crucial for maintaining the competitiveness of destinations in the market. Digitisation, however, has brought not only many new opportunities but also important challenges in integrating new technologies into destination promotion

Introducing Amazon Explore

Purpose Amazon Explore is a new online experience product from Amazon, which offers live stream sightseeing of destinations around the world. This paper aims to provide a first insight into how exactly Amazon Explore enters the virtual experience (VE) industry, and discuss the possible implications of its business model for the future of virtual and offline travel experiences. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative and quantitative methods of content analysis methods were employed in this study. The sample of this research consisted of 175 Amazon Explore products. Firstly, the authors analysed the content of each product, and then quantitative method were used to present the data. With this analysis, the authors presented how Amazon Explore is testing the foundations for new business models, and discuss the possible implications for the future of tourism. One year later, those same Amazon Explore products were reviewed again to check development progress. The following were the main questions regarding VE: How interactive are Amazon Explore products? How does Amazon Explore aim to ensure the monetisation of these products in an economically sustainable way in order to go beyond the “freemium” business model, often associated with VE as just another destination marketing tool? Findings This article presents the discussions of VE and virtual reality (VR). The authors determined the level of interactivity of the diverse VE offered themes with a model of four levels of interactivity. The results show that the analysed products achieve mostly only low levels of interaction. Regarding monetisation, Amazon Explore shows three possible future directions in the development of VE: as a marketing tool, as an extension of the offline experience and as potentially someday replacing real travel as part of the future monetisation scenario. Originality/value The article offers the first insights into Amazon\u27s extension into the realm of VE in two time periods in 2020 and 2021, and, based on these preliminary results, discusses four possible scenarios for the future development of VE monetisation

Theorizing and mapping media ownership networks in authoritarian-populist contexts

This paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discussions on authoritarian populism and the media, from the lens of the political economy of ownership. In contrast to studies that consider the link between media and authoritarian populism by focusing on the discursive structures of populist communication, this study analyses changes in the structure of news media ownership in four European countries that have been subject to authoritarian populism. By employing social network analysis, a methodology rarely used in media ownership research, we reveal how news media ownership concentration as well as changes in ownership structures have provided favorable conditions for the rise and endurance of authoritarian populism. Our study covers ownership developments during the period 2000 to 2020, in Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Turkey where authoritarian populist tendencies have been evident, albeit to varying degrees. Conclusions are drawn to illustrate how authoritarian populist actors in the sample countries not only capitalize on prevailing news media ownership structures, but also proactively intervene in ownership relations in order to increase influence over the diffusion of information

sj-tiff-3-mcs-10.1177_01634437231179366 – Supplemental material for Theorizing and mapping media ownership networks in authoritarian-populist contexts: a comparative analysis of Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Turkey

Supplemental material, sj-tiff-3-mcs-10.1177_01634437231179366 for Theorizing and mapping media ownership networks in authoritarian-populist contexts: a comparative analysis of Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Turkey by Gerhard Schnyder, Marlene Radl, Fanni Toth, Melek Kucukuzun, Tjaša Turnšek, Burçe Çelik and Mojca Pajnik in Media, Culture & Society</p

sj-tiff-13-mcs-10.1177_01634437231179366 – Supplemental material for Theorizing and mapping media ownership networks in authoritarian-populist contexts: a comparative analysis of Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Turkey

Supplemental material, sj-tiff-13-mcs-10.1177_01634437231179366 for Theorizing and mapping media ownership networks in authoritarian-populist contexts: a comparative analysis of Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Turkey by Gerhard Schnyder, Marlene Radl, Fanni Toth, Melek Kucukuzun, Tjaša Turnšek, Burçe Çelik and Mojca Pajnik in Media, Culture & Society</p