Freedom of expression or censorship of antisemitic hate speech?
Editorial and audience perspectives on comment moderation in far-right alternative media
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/journalistica.v16i1.130043Keywords:
far right, alternative media, comment moderation, online comments, editorial control, audience participation, hate speech, antisemitism, freedom of expression, anti-Muslim prejudiceAbstract
Taking the dilemma between freedom of expression and censorship of antisemitic hate speech as a point of departure, this article explores how three prominent and controversial Norwegian far-right alternative media perceive and perform comment moderation and how editorial and audience perspectives on the issue correspond. Based on a critical discourse analysis of interviews with key staff members and a strategic selection of comment sections, the article demonstrates how both moderators and debaters understand the boundaries between legitimate and illegitimate expressions and how transgressive content should be dealt with. The article argues that when it comes to regulating comment sections, these oppositional media actors are not so alternative after all. The study illustrates how comment moderation is crucial for all actors who seek to obtain or protect their legitimacy, regardless of their (counter-) position in the public sphere. While there is widespread agreement on antisemitic hate speech as illegitimate, there is, however, more tolerance for generalising statements about Muslims and immigrants, which underpins these actors’ antagonism towards these groups.
References
Anderson, A. A., Yeo, S. K., Brossard, D., Scheufele, D. A., & Xenos, M. A. (2016). Toxic talk: How online incivility can undermine perceptions of media. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 30(1), 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edw022
Bergström, A., & Wadbring, I. (2015). Beneficial yet crappy: Journalists and audiences on obstacles and opportunities in reader comments. European Journal of Communication, 30(2), 137–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323114559378
Berntzen, L. E. (2020). Liberal roots of far right activism: The anti-Islamic movement in the 21st century. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429275012
Castelli Gattinara, P. (2017). Framing exclusion in the public sphere: Far-right mobilisation and the debate on Charlie Hebdo in Italy. South European Society and Politics, 22(3), 345–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2017.1374323
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2018). Experiences and perceptions of antisemitism—Second survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU. https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/2nd-survey-discrimination-hate-crime-against-jews
Figenschou, T. U., & Ihlebæk, K. A. (2019). Challenging journalistic authority: Media criticism in far-right alternative media. Journalism Studies, 20(9), 1221–1237. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2018.1500868
Haanshuus, B. P., & Ihlebæk, K. A. (2021). Recontextualising the news: How antisemitic discourses are constructed in extreme far-right alternative media. Nordicom Review, 42(s1), 37–50. https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0005
Heft, A., Mayerhöffer, E., Reinhardt, S., & Knüpfer, C. (2020). Beyond Breitbart: Comparing right‐wing digital news infrastructures in six western democracies. Policy & Internet, 12(1), 20–45. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.219
Hoffmann, C., & Moe, V. (Eds.) (2017). Attitudes Towards Jews and Muslims in Norway 2017. Population Survey and Minority Study. The Norwegian Centre for Holocaust and Minority Studies.
Holt, K. (2020). Right-wing alternative media. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429454691
Holt, K., Ustad Figenschou, T., & Frischlich, L. (2019). Key dimensions of alternative news media. Digital Journalism, 7(7), 860–869. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1625715
Ihlebæk, K. A., & Figenschou, T. U. (2022). Knock, knock! Right-wing alternative media is at the door. Institutional boundary work in a hybrid media environment. In P. Ferrucci & S. A. Eldridge II (Eds.), Institutions Changing Journalism: Barbarians inside the gate (pp. 17–31). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003140399-3
Ihlebæk, K. A., & Krumsvik, A. H. (2015). Editorial power and public participation in online newspapers. Journalism, 16(4), 470–487. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884913520200
Ihlebæk, K. A., Løvlie, A. S., & Mainsah, H. (2013). Mer åpenhet, mer kontroll? Håndteringen av nettdebatten etter 22. juli. Norsk Medietidsskrift, 20(03), 223–240. https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN0805-9535-2013-03-03
Ihlebæk, K. A., & Nygaard, S. (2021). Right-wing alternative media in the Scandinavian political communication landscape. In E. Skogerbø, Ø. Ihlen, N. N. Kristensen, & L. Nord (Eds.), Power, communication, and politics in the Nordic countries (pp. 263–282). Nordicom, University of Gothenburg.
Jackson, P., & Feldman, M. (2014). Introduction. In M. Feldman & P. Jackson (Eds.), Doublespeak: The rhetoric of the far right since 1945 (pp. 7–35). ibidem-Verlag.
Kahmann, B. (2017). ‘The most ardent pro-Israel party’: Pro-Israel attitudes and anti-antisemitism among populist radical-right parties in Europe. Patterns of Prejudice, 51(5), 396–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/0031322X.2017.1394663
Larsson, A. O. (2011). Interactive to me – interactive to you? A study of use and appreciation of interactivity on Swedish newspaper websites. New Media & Society, 13(7), 1180–1197. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444811401254
Løvlie, A. S., Ihlebæk, K. A., & Larsson, A. O. (2018). User Experiences with Editorial Control in Online Newspaper Comment Fields. Journalism Practice, 12(3), 362–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2017.1293490
Lurås, H. (2018). Ta ekstra godt vare på jødene i Norge. Resett. https://resett.no/2018/12/04/ta-ekstra-godt-vare-pa-jodene-i-norge/
Moffitt, B. (2017). Liberal illiberalism? The reshaping of the contemporary populist radical right in Northern Europe. Politics and Governance, 5(4), 112–122. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v5i4.996
Mudde, C. (2007). Populist radical right parties in Europe. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511492037
Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Schulz, A., Andı, S., & Nielsen, R. K. (2020). Digital News Report 2020. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://www.digitalnewsreport.org/survey/2020
Noppari, E., Hiltunen, I., & Ahva, L. (2019). User profiles for populist counter-media websites in Finland. Journal of Alternative & Community Media, 4(1), 23–37. https://doi.org/10.1386/joacm_00041_1
Nygaard, S. (2020). Boundary work: Intermedia agenda-setting between right-wing alternative media and professional journalism. Journalism Studies, 21(6), 766–782. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2020.1722731
Reich, Z. (2011). User Comments. The transformation of participatory space. In J. B. Singer, A. Hermida, D. Domingo, A. Heinonen, S. Paulussen, T. Quandt, Z. Reich, & M. Vujnovic, Participatory journalism: Guarding open gates at online newspapers (pp. 96–117). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444340747.ch6
Reisigl, M., & Wodak, R. (2016). The discourse-historical approach (DHA). In R. Wodak & M. Meyer (Eds.), Methods of Critical Discourse Studies (3rd ed., pp. 23–61). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Robinson, S. (2010). Traditionalists vs. convergers: Textual privilege, boundary work, and the journalist-audience relationship in the commenting policies of online news sites. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 16(1), 125–143. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856509347719
Ruiz, C., Domingo, D., Micó, J. L., Díaz-Noci, J., Meso, K., & Masip, P. (2011). Public sphere 2.0? The democratic qualities of citizen cebates in online newspapers. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 16(4), 463–487. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161211415849
Rustad, H. (2019). Resett bommer totalt: Antisemitter har samme forhold til ytringsfrihet som islamister. Document. https://www.document.no/2019/08/05/resett-bommer-totalt-antisemitter-har-samme-forhold-til-ytringsfrihet-som-islamister/
Schwarzenegger, C. (2021). Communities of darkness? Users and uses of anti-system alternative media between audience and community. Media and Communication, 9(1), 99–109. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v9i1.3418
Singer, J. B., Hermida, A., Domingo, D., Heinonen, A., Paulussen, S., Quandt, T., Reich, Z., & Vujnovic, M. (2011). Participatory journalism: Guarding open gates at online newspapers. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444340747
Storhaug, H. (2018). Grotesk jødehat i Resetts kommentarfelt. Human Rights Service. https://www.rights.no/2018/12/grotesk-jodehat-i-resetts-kommentarflet/
Thorbjørnsrud, K., & Figenschou, T. U. (2020). The alarmed citizen: Fear, mistrust, and alternative media. Journalism Practice, 16(5), 1018–1035. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2020.1825113
Yılmaz, F. (2011). The politics of the Danish cartoon affair: Hegemonic intervention by the extreme right. Communication Studies, 62(1), 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2011.533340
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Birgitte P. Haanshuus
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Forfattere, der publicerer deres værker via dette tidsskrift, accepterer følgende vilkår:
- Forfattere bevarer deres ophavsret og giver tidsskriftet ret til første publicering, samtidigt med at værket er omfattet af en Creative Commons Attribution-licens, der giver andre ret til at dele værket med en anerkendelse af værkets forfatter og første publicering i nærværende tidsskrift.
- Forfattere kan indgå flere separate kontraktlige aftaler om ikke-eksklusiv distribution af tidsskriftets publicerede version af værket (f.eks. sende det til et institutionslager eller udgive det i en bog), med en anerkendelse af værkets første publicering i nærværende tidsskrift.
- Forfattere har ret til og opfordres til at publicere deres værker online (f.eks. i institutionslagre eller på deres websted) forud for og under manuskriptprocessen, da dette kan føre til produktive udvekslinger, samt tidligere og større citater fra publicerede værker (se The Effect of Open Access).
