NEW RESEACH: Mainstream media use in far-right online ecosystems
New research shows that the far right shares articles from mainstream media across the political spectrum, even though they often dismiss it as untrustworthy, or ‘fake news’. CRIS 'Dynamics of Violent Extremism' researchers Dr Mario Peucker, Thomas J Fisher and Jacob Davey have released a new report on ways that far-right social media users use mainstream media outlets for their ideological messages.
‘Mainstream media use in far-right online ecosystems’ analyses over 56,000 posts from far-right users on Facebook and Gab. The data show that all mainstream media outlets can be co-opted for ideological messaging regardless of their political leaning.
While content from far-right hyper-partisan fringe media sites were commonly shared, close to 60% of the links on the analysed posts from social media sites Facebook and Gab were to mainstream news sites. The researchers found that users had many tactics to frame and reframe articles, reinforcing their existing ideological messages.