The Evolving Media Ecosystem: An Interview with Victoria Jaye, BBC

2011 ◽  
pp. 105-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Jane Evans
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

This chapter examines the claim that alt-right activists hacked the media ecosystem byinserting various destructive memes into the mainstream media that helped DonaldTrump win the 2016 presidential election. In particular, this chapter considers thepropaganda pipeline—the path from the periphery to the core through a series ofwell-known amplifi cation sites, most prominently Infowars and Drudge. Th e “spiritcooking” stories as seen on Infowars, Washington Times, and Sean Hannity perfectlyencapsulate the propaganda pipeline from the periphery to the core, drawingin the various suspects in producing information disorder. Th e chapter also showshow statements by marginal actors on Reddit and 4chan were collated and preparedfor propagation by more visible sites, and how this technique was exploited by bothalt-right and Russia-related actors successfully to get a story from the periphery toHannity.


Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

This chapter focuses on the role of the dominant player in conservative media, Fox News, during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency. It looks at three case studies to illustrate how Fox News used its position at the core of the right-wing media ecosystem repeatedly to mount propaganda attacks in support of Trump: the Michael Flynn firing in March 2017, when Fox adopted the “deep state” framing of the entire controversy; the James Comey firing and Robert Mueller appointment in May 2017; when Fox propagated the Seth Rich murder conspiracy; and in October and November, when the arrests of Paul Manafort and guilty plea of Flynn seemed to mark a new level of threat to the president, Fox reframed the Uranium One story as an attack on the integrity of the FBI and Justice Department officials in charge of the investigation.


Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

This chapter presents a model of the interaction of media outlets, politicians, and the public with an emphasis on the tension between truth-seeking and narratives that confirm partisan identities. This model is used to describe the emergence and mechanics of an insular media ecosystem and how two fundamentally different media ecosystems can coexist. In one, false narratives that reinforce partisan identity not only flourish, but crowd-out true narratives even when these are presented by leading insiders. In the other, false narratives are tested, confronted, and contained by diverse outlets and actors operating in a truth-oriented norms dynamic. Two case studies are analyzed: the first focuses on false reporting on a selection of television networks; the second looks at parallel but politically divergent false rumors—an allegation that Donald Trump raped a 13-yearold and allegations tying Hillary Clinton to pedophilia—and tracks the amplification and resistance these stories faced.


Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

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.


Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts

This chapter describes the contours of the epistemic crisis in media and politics that threatens the integrity of democratic processes, erodes trust in public institutions, and exacerbates social divisions. It lays out the centrality of partisanship, asymmetric polarization, and political radicalization in understanding the current maladies of political media. It investigates the main actors who used the asymmetric media ecosystem to influence the formation of beliefs and the propagation of disinformation in the American public sphere, and to manipulate political coverage during the election and the first year of the Trump presidency, , including “fake news” entrepreneurs/political clickbait fabricators; Russian hackers, bots, and sockpuppets; the Facebook algorithm and online echo chambers; and Cambridge Analytica. The chapter also provides definitions of propaganda and related concepts, as well as a brief intellectual history of the study of propaganda.


2021 ◽  
pp. 096366252110193
Author(s):  
Lars Guenther ◽  
Marina Joubert

Science amplifier platforms such as The Conversation have gained popularity in a changing media ecosystem in which the traditional roles of journalists are eroded, and scientists are urged to engage with society. The Conversation constitutes a blend of scientific communication, public science communication and science journalism, and a convergence of the professional worlds of science and journalism. In this study, we investigated the nature and impact of the Africa-focussed edition of this platform, The Conversation Africa. We analysed articles published over a 5-year period since its launch in 2015 ( N = 5392). Contents from South Africa dominate the platform, but contributions from other African countries are increasing. Regarding the role of The Conversation Africa as an inter-media agenda setter, mainstream media more often republished stories related to politics or economics, while stories about social issues such as education, conservation and art were more often shared on social media.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Carlos Correia ◽  
Pedro Jerónimo ◽  
Anabela Gradim

This text addresses the phenomenon of so-called fake news in the new media ecosystem, namely in contexts of increasing influence of populist discourse and action, such as Brazil, the UK, the USA, Italy, among others. It does so by way of some characteristics already implicit in the limited effects theory: a) fake news involves, in a specific way, the participation of its receivers in disseminating and sharing it; b) producers/consumers (prosumers) are involved in contexts of proximity that facilitate selective exposure, perception, and memorization; c) these phenomena are joined by another (selective sharing): the stakeholders share ideas they agree with more intensely. Information bubbles reinforce existing beliefs and predispositions; d) the phenomenon is increased in contexts of proximity, be it geographical proximity provided by regional media or thematic and ideological proximity shared in online groups. Despite this, there is a difference between contexts of proximity in traditional communities and mechanisms of propaganda that have a significant level of organization and ideological polarization.Este texto aborda o fenômeno das chamadas fake news no novo ecossistema midiático, nomeadamente em contextos de aumento da influência do discurso e das ações populistas, como Brasil, Reino Unido, EUA, Itália entre outros, através de algumas características, já implícitas na teoria dos efeitos limitados: a) as fake news implicam, de um modo especial, a participação dos seus receptores na sua divulgação e dispersão; b) os produtores/consumidores (prosumers) estão envolvidos em contextos de proximidade que facilitam a exposição, percepção, memorização seletivas; c) a estes fenômenos acrescenta-se outro (partilha seletiva): os stakeholders compartilham com mais intensidade as ideias com que estão de acordo. As bolhas de informação reforçam crenças e predisposições já existentes; d) o fenômeno agrava-se em contextos de proximidade, seja esta a proximidade geográfica e temática proporcionada nos media regionais, seja a proximidade temática e ideológica partilhadas nos grupos online. Apesar disso, há uma diferença liminar entre os contextos de proximidade em comunidades tradicionais e os mecanismos de propaganda com forte índice de organização e mobilização ideológica.Este texto aborda el fenómeno de las llamadas fake news en el nuevo ecosistema mediático, a saber, en contextos de creciente influencia del discurso y la acción populistas como Brasil, EE.UU., U.K., Italia, entre otros, mediante algunas características implícitas en la teoria de los efectos limitados: a) las fake news implican, de modo especial, la participación de sus receptores en su divulgación y dispersión; b) los productores / consumidores (prosumers) participan en contextos de proximidad que facilitan la exposición, la percepción y la memorización selectiva; c) a estos fenómenos se añade otro (compartición selectiva): los stakeholders, quienes comparten con más intensidad las ideas con que están de acuerdo. Las burbujas de información refuerzan creencias y predisposiciones ya existentes; d) el fenómeno se agrava en contextos de proximidad, es decir, la proximidad geográfica y temática proporcionada en los medios regionales, sea la proximidad temática y ideológica compartida en los grupos online. Apesar de ello, hay una diferencia entre los contextos de proximidad en comunidades tradicionales y los mecanismos de propaganda con fuerte índice de organización y movilización ideológica.


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