This book offers a fresh perspective on central questions related to right-wing alternative media: Can right-wing media be alternative? Why do they exist? Are they a threat to the existing order and what have the reactions been from mainstream politicians and media actors?
The rise and success of right-wing populism in the political life of many western countries, along with several new and apparently successful alternative media operations on the right, has caused surprise and confusion among researchers and debaters. How should this challenge to mainstream politics and media be understood? Journalistic, political and academic discourse has struggled to explain these tendencies and tend to focus on sensational and extreme examples, with little attention directed towards other aspects. This book critically discusses existing theoretical frameworks related to alternative media in general, analysing a wide scope of cases to illustrate the diversity of voices in alternative media on the right and highlighting the importance of intellectual coolness and common sense in discussions about this important but ideologically and politically charged area.
An important addition to the current discourse of contemporary media, Right-Wing Alternative Media is ideal for researchers, students and anyone interested in politics and public discourse.
Author(s): Kristoffer Holt
Series: Routledge Focus on Communication and Society
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2019
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Introduction
Right-wing?
1 Why do alternative media exist?
Media criticism today
Criticism or distrust?
Counter-publics, Hallin’s spheres and the “corridor of opinion”
2 Are alternative media a threat to the system?
Different types of anti-systemness
Ideological anti-systemness
Irrelevant right-wing alternative media
Polarizing right-wing alternative media
Right-wing alternative media
3 Right-wing alternative media in research
Motives
Views on the established journalistic media
How do they relate to each other?
Populism and alternative media
Reach and impact
The audience
Extremist right-wing alternative media
The “alt-right,” “new right” and “metapolitics”
Propaganda and disinformation
Fake news is fake because of its fakeness…
Filter bubbles and echo chambers
The Intellectual Dark Web
4 Reactions from the mainstream…
Freedom of speech challenged?
Implications and conclusion
The future?
Further research
Bibliography
Index