Social media in/and the politics of the European Union

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Krzyżanowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Union ◽  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Organizational Practices ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Online Help ◽  
Political Discourses

Abstract This paper looks at how social/online media – using the example of Twitter – are used in the politico-organizational communication of the European Union at a time when it faces multiple crises and is in acute need of effectively communicating its politics to the European demos. Proposing a critical discourse framework for the analysis of the politico-organizational use of Twitter, the paper shows that while, to some extent, bringing change or ‘modernization’ to EU political communication patterns, social/online media help in sustaining some of the deep-seated dispositions in EU communicative and organizational practices as well as political discourses. As deployed by the EU’s – and specifically the European Commission’s – spokesperson service, social/online help in solidifying some of the controversial patterns in EU political communication. They also bring in other, more contemporary, challenges as regards using Twitter and social media as parts of political and institutional/organizational communication.

scholarly journals Digital Media Unequality During the 2014th Indonesian Presidential Election

2018 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 14006
Author(s):  
Hedi Pudjo Santosa ◽  
Nurul Hasfi ◽  
Triyono Lukmantoro
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Political Discussion ◽  
Fake News

In the internet era, a hoax is a real threat for democracy, as it spreads misleading and fake information that creats uncertain political communication. During the 2014 Indonesian presidential election, a hoax was rapidly spreading thorough social media. Morover, in Indonesian political context, a hoax construct strategically by using primordialism issue. This study uses critical discourse analysis to identify a pattern of hoax during the 2014 Indonesian presidential election, particularly to show how primordialism constructs an unequel society. The data was taken from political discussion among 8 influential Twitter accounts, two months before the election. The study found that 1) A hoax was produced by using many techniques; 2) Mainstream ‘online media’ involved in the production of the hoax, particularly by constructing sensational headline. Meanwhile, fake news commonly produced and distributed by pseudonym Twitter accounts; 3) Both hoax and fake news generally run under a mechanism of primordialism issue.

The Discourse of Conflict in Social Media Networks

Utafiti ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Frolence Rutechura
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Union ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Systematic Study ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Online Platform ◽  
Social Media Networks ◽  
News Event

Conflict in online discussions has the potential to polarise individuals’ perceptions of any online political related post, yet political communication scholarship has paid little attention to systematic study of how verbal attacks play out in online discussions of political related posts. This paper takes a critical look at some samples of online readers’ comments to the news post issued by the European Union condemning the rise of political-related violence in Tanzania on the Tanzania based online platform−JamiiForums−in order to see how language is used by individuals to express their view points and opinions on the news event. This study applies van Dijk’s (2006) socio-cognitive approach of positive-self and negative-other polarisation in the readers’ comments on the news event.

Epilogue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Goodin ◽  
Kai Spiekermann
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Union ◽  
Majority Rule ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Epistemic Democracy ◽  
The Core ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Filter Bubbles

This chapter reflects on the election of Donald Trump and the vote of the British electorate in favour of ‘Brexit’ from the European Union. While we refrain from judging the outcomes of these votes, we do discuss concerns pertaining to the lack of truthfulness in both campaigns. After rehearsing the lies on which the Trump and Brexit campaigns were based, we consider different explanations as to why these campaigns were nevertheless successful, and where this leaves the argument for epistemic democracy. Particularly worrisome are tendencies towards ‘epistemic insouciance’, ‘epistemic malevolence’, and ‘epistemic agnosticism’. We also consider the problematic influence of social media in terms of echo chambers and filter bubbles. The core argument in favour of epistemic democracy is that the pooling of votes by majority rule has epistemically beneficial properties, assuming certain conditions. If these assumptions are not met, or are systematically corrupted, then epistemic democracy is under threat.

‘A long, narrow and uphill road’: The representation of Turkey–EEC/EU relations in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet (1959–2019)

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312199951
Author(s):  
Ayça Demet Atay
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Front Page ◽  
The European Union ◽  
News Discourse

Turkey’s membership process to the European Union has been a ‘long, narrow and uphill road’, as former Turkish Prime Minister, and later President, Turgut Özal once stated. This study analyses the representation of the European Union–Turkey negotiation process in the Turkish newspapers Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet from 1959 to 2019 with the aim of understanding the changing meaning of ‘Europe’ and the ‘European Union’ in Turkish news discourse. There is comprehensive literature on the representation of Turkey’s membership process in the European press. This article aims to contribute to the field by assessing the representation of the same process from a different angle. For this purpose, Cumhuriyet and Hürriyet newspapers’ front page coverage of selected 10 key dates in the European Union–Turkey relations is analysed through critical discourse analysis.

Critical Discourse–Ethnographic Approaches to Language Policy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Wodak ◽  
Kristof Savski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Key Concepts

This chapter focuses on the synergy that researchers in language policy have developed by integrating two other subfields of sociolinguistics: critical discourse analysis and critical ethnography. The chapter begins by discussing the meanings of the three key concepts used in these approaches, albeit sometimes in significantly different ways: critique, ethnography, and discourse. It then examines how these concepts are relevant to contemporary analyses of language policy, focusing particularly on their potential to open new and innovative avenues of research. To demonstrate how an integrated critical discourse and ethnographic approach can be applied in concrete empirical research, the chapter presents an analysis of language policy and practice in the European Union before providing an overview of other relevant studies in the area.

Conceptualizing Brexit

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelly Tincheva
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Natural Disaster ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Online Media ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Major Event ◽  
The United Kingdom

Abstract Brexit, i.e. the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU), is a major event not only in European but also in global politics. Its effect is still to be witnessed and its future impact is debated from a variety of angles – social, economic, cultural, ethnic, religious, etc. The present paper offers a cognitive linguistic perspective on the phenomenon. It aims to investigate the conceptual metaphorization of Brexit on the first days after the 2016 referendum. That period seems of special importance as, arguably, it was then that for many UK citizens, Brexit suddenly became part of reality and not just a hypothetical possibility. The paper presents data on the dynamics of employing different source domains on each of the first 4 days after the referendum. The main objective is to isolate regularities and tendencies in how the selected culturally-significant source domains help structure the concept. The analysis of the dataset of English-language EU online media texts appearing on the first 4 post-referendum days reveals that the most prominent source domains in the metaphoric conceptualization of brexit are divorce, a natural disaster and part of a journey.

scholarly journals Social Media and EuroMaidan: A Review Essay

Slavic Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan MacDuffee Metzger ◽  
Joshua A. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Union ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
The Government

As more than a billion people had done previously, on November 21, 2013, Ukrainian journalist and activist Mustafa Nayem wrote a Facebook post; this post, however, would have a much larger impact on subsequent political developments than most that had preceded it. Frustrated with President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision not to sign a long-promised association agreement with the European Union, Nayem asked others who shared his frustration to comment on his post. Even more importantly, Nayem wrote that if the post received at least 1000 comments from people willing to join him, they should all go to Independence Square to protest. And indeed they did: starting with just a few thousand people, the protests would swell to be the largest since Ukraine’s independence, particularly after police used force against protesters at the end of November 2013. Eventually, these protests led to the resignation of the government, the exile of the former president, and indirectly to the secession of Crimea and the ongoing conflict in the eastern part of the country.

scholarly journals Instant democracy: a look forward to the EU’s digital future

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-81
Author(s):  
Miguel Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Union ◽  
Information Security ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Traditional Practices ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Digital Democracy ◽  
Technological Advances

Democracy’s resilience is being put to the test by the 21st century. The impactof globalisation and digitalisation has disenfranchised many but so have traditional democratic practices. In an era of constant and immediate communication, with society embracing technological advances while struggling to cope with its inadvertent effects, democracy is still tethered to traditional practices that limit citizens’ roles to casting their ballots every few years. However, theory is now being put to the test and experiments with digital democracy are popping up across the globe. In this article, we cover three participative democracy instruments, namely the European Citizens Initiative, e-Voting and e-Participatory Budgeting, delving into their potential and identifying their limitations, in the context of the European Union. We also cover the unforeseen threats to democracy posed by information security issues and social media.

scholarly journals Interpersonal functions in Greta Thunberg’s “civil society for rEUnaissance” speech

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-305
Author(s):  
Stefanny Lauwren ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
The One ◽  
Speech Transcription ◽  
Climate Crisis

Greta Thunberg delivered a speech entitled “You’re Acting Like Spoiled, Irresponsible Children” to influential figures in Europe through the “Civil Society for renaissance” event, in which she was personally invited by the president of the organizer, Luca Jahier. Through her speech, she managed to convince the European Union to pledge to spend billions of euros to combat the climate crisis. This study aims to discover how interpersonal metafunction is used in the speech and what functions are revealed through Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Hallidayan Systemic Functional Grammar. The data, consisting of seventy-one independent clauses, were taken from Thunberg’s book which consists of her speech transcription, titled “No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference”. The research discovers that through the use of mood, modality, and pronouns, Thunberg conveys her view on her relationship with the audience as victim and perpetrator, and the one who holds responsibility and takes the blame.

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