scholarly journals A Lot of People Did Not Want This to Happen

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tunisha Singleton ◽  
Kyle Green
Keyword(s):  
Government Regulation ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Narrative Persuasion ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Media Criticism ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Political Position ◽  
Ultimate Fighting Championship ◽  
The Face ◽  
Dominant Narratives

Using three highly visible promotional videos from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), we perform a critical examination of the UFC’s branding during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first is a recorded endorsement from President Donald Trump, the second introduces the origin of an international pay-per-view series called “Fight Island” and the third is an end of year retrospective of the UFC’s performance in 2020. Employing content analysis grounded in brand psychology and narrative persuasion, we deconstruct the visual communication and story-based elements within this advertising to reveal how the company has adopted an identity of heroic dominance and defiance. This persona is built from a cognitively biased and framed suggestive notion which the UFC uses to market themselves as the lone organization fearless enough to “conquer” COVID-19 through the continuation of live events and overcoming obstacles posed by government regulation and media criticism. Ultimately, we find three dominant narratives actively established from this identity and heavily employed in their subsequent branded content: “Sport Must Go On,” “Unstoppable Force,” and “World Gone Crazy.” We conclude by arguing that the UFC’s branding reifies the tenuous social and political position the young sport occupies by marketing the combat sports company as different than other mainstream sport leagues, through repeated celebration of the Dana White (President of the UFC) as a heroic figure, by their disavowal of caution in the face of a pandemic, and in portrayal of the mainstream media as a jealous enemy.

Hyperpartisan Sports Media in Trump’s America: The Metapolitics of Breitbart Sports

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 588-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Falcous ◽  
Matthew G. Hawzen ◽  
Joshua I. Newman
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Sexual Politics ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Political Ideologies ◽  
News Website ◽  
American Society

The rise of Donald Trump has widely been seen as concurrent to the emergence of the “Alt-Right” that coalesces around intersecting themes of conservativism: White ethno-nationalist “race realism,” populism, misogyny, evangelical theocracy, border protectionism, and anti-liberalism. Media has been a key site of struggle in these developments, with attacks on mainstream media bringing into focus wider questions of truth and legitimacy in journalism. In particular, Trump’s rise has been synonymous with the heightened profile of the Breitbart News website, a purveyor of hyperpartisan, conservative political ideologies. In this article, we consider the place of Breitbart Sports within this dynamic political and media order. Our analysis of the lead-up to the 2016 Presidential election reveals the extent to which Breitbart Sports conveyed a vision of U.S. sport that promoted hard-right agendas in relation to U.S. global stewardship, veiled “race” reclamation discourses, media, immigration, social criticism, policing, sexual politics, and party politics. Breitbart Sports framing casts sport as a liberally infested cultural battleground, where conservativism is under threat. We conclude with a brief discussion about the role of new media in framing political exigencies and the role of sport in contemporary American society.

scholarly journals Discursive Deflection: Accusation of “Fake News” and the Spread of Mis- and Disinformation in the Tweets of President Trump

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511877601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Ross ◽  
Damian J. Rivers
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Objective Truth ◽  
Reliable Source ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Reports

Twitter is increasingly being used within the sociopolitical domain as a channel through which to circulate information and opinions. Throughout the 2016 US Presidential primaries and general election campaign, a notable feature was the prolific Twitter use of Republican candidate and then nominee, Donald Trump. This use has continued since his election victory and inauguration as President. Trump’s use of Twitter has drawn criticism due to his rhetoric in relation to various issues, including Hillary Clinton, the size of the crowd in attendance at his inauguration, the policies of the former Obama administration, and immigration and foreign policy. One of the most notable features of Trump’s Twitter use has been his repeated ridicule of the mainstream media through pejorative labels such as “fake news” and “fake media.” These labels have been deployed in an attempt to deter the public from trusting media reports, many of which are critical of Trump’s presidency, and to position himself as the only reliable source of truth. However, given the contestable nature of objective truth, it can be argued that Trump himself is a serial offender in the propagation of mis- and disinformation in the same vein that he accuses the media. This article adopts a corpus analysis of Trump’s Twitter discourse to highlight his accusations of fake news and how he operates as a serial spreader of mis- and disinformation. Our data show that Trump uses these accusations to demonstrate allegiance and as a cover for his own spreading of mis- and disinformation that is framed as truth.

South African government faces public-sector showdown

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
South African ◽  
African Government ◽  
Wage Bill ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Debt Burden ◽  
Political Position ◽  
The Face

Significance The negotiations follow the government’s refusal last year to pay the final annual tranche of a previous three-year deal. Containing the public-sector wage bill is seen as key for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration to rein in a spiralling debt burden. Impacts The three main rating agencies may postpone their next assessments until the wage talks gain greater clarity. Government firmness in the face of union demands could undermine Ramaphosa’s hold on the ruling ANC. With unions in a weak political position, they may have to stomach government intransigence due to lack of alternatives to Ramaphosa. Substantial concessions to unions would be divisive amid difficult budgetary choices such as below-inflation increases on social grants.

New Media and Terrorism

2014 ◽  
pp. 184-196
Author(s):  
Pauline Hope Cheong
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
New Media ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
War On Terrorism ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Social Media Networks ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Hearts And Minds ◽  
Video Material

Beyond the widespread coverage of terrorism-related stories on international news outlets, we are witnessing the swift spread of alternative interpretations of these stories online. These alternative narratives typically involve digital transmediation or the remix, remediation, and viral dissemination of textual, audio, and video material on multiple new and social media platforms. This chapter discusses the role of new(er) media in facilitating the transmediated spread of extremist narratives, rumors, and political parody. Drawing from recent case studies based upon multi-modal analyses of digital texts on social media networks, including blogs, vlogs, Twitter, and Jihadist sites associated with acts of terror in Asia, Middle East, and North America, the chapter illustrates how digital transmediation significantly works oftentimes to construct counter narratives to government counter insurgency operations and mainstream media presentations. In discussing these examples, the chapter demonstrates how the new media points to varied narratives and reifies notions of national security, global politics, terrorism, and the media's role in framing the “War on Terrorism.” Moreover, a critical examination of remix texts and digital mashups of popular artifacts inform a Web 2.0 understanding of how the creative communication practices of online prosumers (hybrid consumers and producers) contest dominant interests in the online ideological battlefield for hearts and minds.

scholarly journals Simulacra in the Age of Social Media: Baudrillard as the Prophet of Fake News

2020 ◽  
pp. 019685992097715
Author(s):  
James Morris
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Online Technology ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Mass Reproduction

“Fake News” has been a frequent topic in the last couple of years. The phenomenon has particularly been cited with regards to the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States. The creation of “post truth” reports that are disseminated via the Web and social media has been treated as something new, a product of the digital age, and a reason to be concerned about the effects of online technology. However, this paper argues that fake news should be considered as part of a continuum with forms of media that went before in the 20th Century, and the general trend of postmodernity detailed by Baudrillard. The simulation of communications media and mass reproduction was already evident and has merely progressed in the digital age rather than the latter providing a wholly new context. The paper concludes by asking whether the political havoc caused by fake news has an antidote, when it appears to be a by-product of media simulacra’s inherent lack of connection to the real. In a communications landscape where the misrepresentations of the so-called “Mainstream Media” are decried using even more questionable “memes” on social media, is there any possibility for truth?

scholarly journals The Sacrosanctity of the Holocaust and its Influence on Judaism and the State of Israel

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 228-247
Author(s):  
Victoria Nesfield
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
The State ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Legal Cases ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Holocaust Memory ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Impact ◽  
State Of Israel

The Holocaust maintains a status of inviolability in the Christian religious public sphere and also the mainstream media. The scale, gravity and sheer atrocity of the Holocaust still commands a response. The article argues that questions demanded by the Holocaust of the Christian church and the free world’s passivity in the face of genocide, led to a Christian support for the State of Israel driven by guilt and a sense of moral obligation which side-lined the impact of the State on the Palestinian people. With the Israel-Palestine conflict in its seventh decade, the imperative to overcome the hegemony of Holocaust memory is more urgent than ever. Seventy years after the Holocaust, its legacy in public and theological memory dominates questions of Judaism within the polity and the State of Israel. Two legal cases, which attracted media attention, illustrate how Holocaust memory is evoked in response to questions of Jewish practice in the European polity. Two further examples demonstrate how the pernicious influence of Holocaust memory and rhetoric colour responses to criticism of the State of Israel.

The Editorial Opinion of the Mainstream Media During the Catalan Elections of 2017: A Madrid–Barcelona Comparative Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 000276422097846
Author(s):  
Enric Xicoy-Comas ◽  
Cristina Perales-García ◽  
Rafael Xambó
Keyword(s):  
Basque Country ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Franco Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
The Press ◽  
Self Rule ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
First Time

This article is a follow-up to an article published in the American Behavioral Scientist in 2017, titled “Shaping public opinion for confrontation: Catalan independence claims as represented in Spanish, Catalan, Valencian, and Basque Editorials.” At that time, our study was based on opinions expressed in mainstream newspaper editorials during two significant events in Catalonia’s recent history: the demonstration against the Spanish Constitutional Court ruling on the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of July 10, 2010, and the mass pro-independence demonstration held on September 11, 2012. The research sought to compare the press reports published in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Basque Country with those from the rest of Spain (primarily Madrid). This study applies the same methodology to analyze editorial pieces published during the campaign prior to the Catalan parliamentary elections on December 21, 2017. This date was historically significant for Catalonia because for the first time since the restoration of democracy following the Franco regime, the Spanish state had intervened in Catalonia’s self-rule by using Article 155 of the Spanish constitution to call snap elections. At the time, the lead candidates for the pro-independence parties were Oriol Junqueras (Republican Left of Catalonia) and Carles Puigdemont (Together for Catalonia), the former in prison and the latter abroad (or in “exile,” according to secessionists). In light of the opposing opinions and perspectives, we believe it is worth analyzing and comparing mainstream editorials from Catalonia (Barcelona) and Spain (Madrid) once again, to ascertain the dominant narratives used in both to explain the Catalan and Spanish position and frame of reference. We have extended the scope to include mainstream online as well as printed media with a view to achieving a better understanding and providing a wider overview of the public agenda and debate at that time.

scholarly journals Mashing up, remixing, and contesting the popular memory of Hillary Clinton

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber Davisson
Keyword(s):  
Public Memory ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Viral Video ◽  
Popular Memory ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
The Way

This essay looks at the viral video "Rebel Girl," released in 2015, which was produced by fans of Hillary Clinton. Following the trajectory of the video, one can see the potential for fan mashups to make arguments that subvert dominant narratives of public memory and, conversely, the way the way mainstream media moves to subsume outsider voices.

scholarly journals Deconstructing Nonviolence and the War-Machine: Unarmed Coups, Nonviolent Power, and Armed Resistance

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-433
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Finlay
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Civil Resistance ◽  
War Machine ◽  
The Face ◽  
The U.S

AbstractProponents of nonviolent tactics often highlight the extent to which they rival arms as effective means of resistance. Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan, for instance, compare civil resistance favorably to armed insurrection as means of bringing about progressive political change. In Ethics, Security, and the War-Machine, Ned Dobos cites their work in support of the claim that similar methods—organized according to Gene Sharp's idea of “civilian-based defense”—may be substituted for regular armed forces in the face of international aggression. I deconstruct this line of pacifist thought by arguing that it builds on the wrong binary. Turning away from a violence-nonviolence dichotomy structured around harmfulness, I look to Richard B. Gregg and Hannah Arendt for an account of nonviolent power defined by non-coercion. Whereas nonviolent coercion in the wrong hands still has the potential to subvert democratic institutions—just as armed methods can—Gregg's and Arendt's conceptions of nonviolent power identify a necessary bulwark against both forms of subversion. The dangers of nonviolent coercion can be seen in the largely nonviolent attempts at civil subversion by supporters of Donald Trump during Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the U.S. presidential election in 2020, while the effectiveness of noncoercive, nonviolent power is illustrated by the resistance of U.S. democratic institutions to resist them.

scholarly journals Donald Trump: A Critical Theory-Perspective on Authoritarian Capitalism

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fuchs
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
State Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Erich Fromm ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
The Media ◽  
State Relations

This paper analyses economic power, state power and ideological power in the age of Donald Trump with the help of critical theory. It applies the critical theory approaches of thinkers such as Franz Neumann, Theodor W. Adorno and Erich Fromm. It analyses changes of US capitalism that have together with political anxiety and demagoguery brought about the rise of Donald Trump. This article draws attention to the importance of state theory for understanding Trump and the changes of politics that his rule may bring about. It is in this context important to see the complexity of the state, including the dynamic relationship between the state and the economy, the state and citizens, intra-state relations, inter-state relations, semiotic representations of and by the state, and ideology. Trumpism and its potential impacts are theorised along these dimensions. The ideology of Trump (Trumpology) has played an important role not just in his business and brand strategies, but also in his political rise. The (pseudo-)critical mainstream media have helped making Trump and Trumpology by providing platforms for populist spectacles that sell as news and attract audiences. By Trump making news in the media, the media make Trump. An empirical analysis of Trump’s rhetoric and the elimination discourses in his NBC show The Apprentice underpins the analysis of Trumpology. The combination of Trump’s actual power and Trump as spectacle, showman and brand makes his government’s concrete policies fairly unpredictable. An important question that arises is what social scientists’ role should be in the conjuncture that the world is experiencing.See also the related blog post "How The Frankfurt School Helps Us To Understand Donald Trump’s Twitter Populism"http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/christian-fuchs1/how-the-frankfurt-school-_b_14156190.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-donald-trumpThe German translation of this shorter piece was published in Der Falter 5/2017: 21-23.

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