scholarly journals Six ways alt-left media legitimatize their criticism of mainstream media: An analysis of The Canary and Evolve Politics (2015–19)

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Cushion
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Media Report ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Close Textual Analysis

In recent years, new alternative left-wing media sites in the United Kingdom – labelled alt-left media – have become popular sources of news. They often focus their attention on the ‘MSM’, an acronym used to pejoratively represent ‘mainstream media’. But there has been limited academic attention about how these new alternative media report mainstream media and critique professional journalism. Drawing on a highly focused dataset of 158 stories from a sample of 1284 articles, this study examined two alt-left media sites in the United Kingdom, The Canary and Evolve Politics, from 2015 to 2019, and identified six specific ways they legitimized their criticism of mainstream media. This involved the constant surveillance of mainstream media reporting, questioning editorial judgements with close textual analysis and drawing on authoritative sources to substantiate claims. It is argued that more research is needed to understand how alternative media are delegitimizing the value of professional journalism.

scholarly journals Left and right populism compared: The British case

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke March
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Theoretical Point ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Per Se ◽  
British Case

This article represents one of the few systematic comparisons of left-wing populism with other populisms. Focussing on the manifestos of six British parties in 1999–2015, the findings confirm that left-wing populists are more socio-economically focussed, more inclusionary but less populist than right-wing populists. The article makes four main substantive contributions. First, empirically, it shows that the much-touted populist Zeitgeist in the United Kingdom barely exists. Second, methodologically, it provides a nuanced disaggregated populism scale that has advantages over existing methods because it can effectively distinguish populist from non-populist parties and analyse degrees of populism. Third, theoretically, it shows that host ideology is more important than populism per se in explaining differences between left and right populisms. Fourth is a broader theoretical point: what is often called ‘thin’ or ‘mainstream’ populism’ is not populism but demoticism (closeness to ordinary people). Therefore, analysts should not label parties ‘populist’ just because their rhetoric is demotic.

scholarly journals What is a Cohesive Community Anyway?

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
Siobhan Holohan
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Minority Communities ◽  
Current Form ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Mainstream Culture

The perceived failure of minority communities to integrate into mainstream culture and society has been of such concern in recent years that there have been a series of political endeavors to shore up notions of citizenship, inclusion, and (national) identity, indeed about what it means to be British. This paper considers political discourses about the failure of multiculturalism and the subsequent implementation of community cohesion strategies in relation to David Cameron’s recent treatise on muscular liberalism, in order to reflect upon notions of segregation, identity and cohesion in the United Kingdom. Data from the Muslims in the European Mediascape project is used to consider to what extent dominant hegemonic discourses of Muslim communities permeate media production practices. Based on an analysis of interviews with mainstream media producers in the United Kingdom, the key concern of this paper is to explore whether media production practices can be said to reinforce the current form of hegemonic liberalism.

scholarly journals Beyond catch-up

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Johnson
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Video On Demand ◽  
On Demand ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Interactive Experience ◽  
Interactive User

The past 5 years have seen a rapid acceleration in the development of online television in the United Kingdom and beyond, with rise in ownership of Internet-connected television sets, smartphones and tablets, increased access to broadband and the growing penetration of transaction and subscription video-on-demand (VoD) services. This article asks how free-to-air terrestrial broadcasters are adapting to a media marketplace in which, according to Ofcom, on-demand television is becoming mass market, through an analysis of ITV Hub – the VoD player for the United Kingdom’s largest free-to-air advertiser-funded broadcaster. Focusing on the mature UK VoD market and the broadcaster whose business model is most threatened by online television, the article combines trade press and textual analysis to demonstrate how ITV has developed a VoD service highly structured by the logics of broadcasting. Centering its analysis on the interface for ITV Hub, the article argues that this increasingly quotidian form of television ephemera offers a vital site through which to understand the changing nature of television as a medium. The article concludes that with contemporary developments in VoD, the distinctions between linear/broadcast and non-linear/on-demand television (flow vs. file, passive viewer vs. interactive user) are breaking down in ways that challenge prevailing arguments that on-demand television can be understood as offering a distinctly different (and more empowered and interactive) experience for viewers.

Feminist Jedi and a politically correct empire: Popular culture and transformative bridges in alternative media content

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
Joshua D Atkinson ◽  
Scott Chappuis ◽  
Gabriel Cruz ◽  
Shanna Gilkeson ◽  
Chelsea Kaunert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Star Wars ◽  
Ideological Assumptions

This article explores the role of writing about popular culture in politically motivated alternative media. In our study, we engaged in different forms of textual analysis in order to investigate three kinds of articles about Star Wars: The Force Awakens in conservative and liberal alternative media. Specifically, we conducted a close reading of reviews of the film, opinion articles about the film and fluff articles about the film. Essentially, we found that the three types of popular culture articles were necessary for the establishment of strong transformative bridges that allowed for intersections between activist alternative media and mainstream media. In addition, we also found the ideological assumptions embedded within the fluff articles to be the most important aspect of this bridge; these ideologies about culture and consumerism allowed for the strongest intersections to emerge.

scholarly journals #Notallcops: Exploring ‘Rotten Apple’ Narratives In Media Reporting of Lush’s 2018 ‘Spycops’ Undercover Policing Campaign

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 177-194
Author(s):  
Nathan Stephens Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
Institutional Accountability ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
High Street ◽  
Viral Nature ◽  
The Media

This article examines the media framing of the 2018 ‘paid to lie’ campaign of Lush, a high-street ethical cosmetics firm. The viral nature of Lush’s intervention into the undercover policing of activism in the United Kingdom highlights the significance of media reporting in the construction of narratives surrounding policing and activism. A qualitative content analysis was undertaken of articles published online in the immediate aftermath of the campaign launch. Based on this analysis, this article argues that the intensely polarised debate following Lush’s ‘paid to lie’ campaign is representative of a wider discursive framing battle that continues to persist today. Within this battle, the state and police establishment promote ‘rotten apple’ explanations of the undercover policing scandal that seek to individualise blame and shirk institutional accountability (Punch 2003). This is significant, as identifying systemic dimensions of the ‘spycops’ scandal is a key focus for activists involved in the ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry (Schlembach 2016).

scholarly journals The Hong Kong Riots and the Sterling Empire Last Stand

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Peruzzi
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
Economic Relation ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Economic Future

The years 1966 and 1967 are crucial for British Crown’s Colony of Hong Kong and for United Kingdom’s economic relation with the People’s Republic of China. Few studies on the subject addressed this reality only partially, whereas a thorough vision remains to be achieved. The 1967 left-wing riots marked a point of no return in UK’s perception of the Hong Kong issue from a political standpoint as the events showed the British the exact measurement of their weakness in the area. But while agreeing that UK’s decolonization strategy might have an earlier start, we have to point out that the years 1966 and 1967 need to be studied as crucial dates, which marks the acquisition of a new consciousness by the Hong Kong financial and industrial milieus: from then on, the economic future of the colony will look towards the Mainland and not anymore towards the United Kingdom, thus acknowledging the strong, though not problem-free, links built over the years by the Hong Kong capitalists with the People’s Republic of China establishment.

Qantas still calls Australia home: The spirit of Australia and the flying kangaroo

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne White
Keyword(s):  
Research Methodology ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Television Advertising ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
The Past ◽  
Close Textual Analysis

An analysis of images of Australia in Qantas television advertising is undertaken in this article. The phenomenon of ‘commercial nationalism’ is investigated through a close textual analysis of Qantas advertisements broadcast via mainstream media, in particular television, between 1987 and 2017. The advertisements are examined by undertaking a semiotic analysis. The research methodology also combines shot combination analysis and a reading of the visual and acoustic channels of the advertisement. In examining some of the key Qantas advertising campaigns in popular media over the past 30 years, it is revealed that the significant airline and tourism company Qantas has sung loudly to the tune of nationalism for the benefit of their business.

scholarly journals Extraordinary Normalcy, Ableist Rehabilitation, and Sporting Ablenationalism: The Cultural (Re)Production of Paralympic Disability Narratives

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Emma Pullen ◽  
Daniel Jackson ◽  
Michael Silk ◽  
P. David Howe ◽  
Carla Filomena Silva
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Cultural Representation ◽  
Production Environment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Cultural Discourses ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Disability Narratives

In the United Kingdom, significant changes have occurred in the Paralympic media production environment and style of Paralympic broadcasting. Given the generative nature of media texts on cultural representation, the authors explore the circulation of disability narratives in contemporary Paralympic media coverage. Drawing on an integrated data set that brings together textual analysis and audience perceptions, the authors highlight the presence of three disability narratives, termed: extraordinary normalcy, ableist rehabilitation, and sporting ablenationalism. The authors unpack the ways these three narratives differ from the widely and commonly used “supercrip” critique and discuss the implications of these narratives, and the wider cultural discourses and dialogue they generate, in terms of inclusion/exclusion and progressive social change.

A Comparative and Transnational Approach to Socialist Anti-Colonialism

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-164
Author(s):  
Quentin Gasteuil
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
European Network ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
The Way

From the 1930s to the 1950s, Fenner Brockway (1888-1988) and Marceau Pivert (1895-1958), both ‘left-wing’ socialists, were deeply committed to anti-colonialism. Brockway lived mostly in the United Kingdom and Pivert in France, but their involvement was not restricted by national boundaries. Regarding colonial issues, both men conceived of the militant activities they pursued in transnational terms. This was a feature of their distinct internationalist approach of politics. Their relationship was part of a wider European network of militants, and their strife against colonial imperialism was embodied in various collective forms of action. The Brockway–Pivert connection thus illustrates the way two anti-colonialist stances met and interacted on different scales and levels. The ideas, the initiatives and the practices of this specific form of socialist anti-colonialism are at the heart of this chapter.

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