Proceedings of the International Conference on Communication and Applied Technologies 2023 (ICOMTA 2023)

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Divide et Impera? Populist Digital Anti-media Criticisms

Authors
Rui Alexandre Novais1, *
1Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CEFH, Braga, Portugal
*Corresponding author. Email: rnovais@ucp.pt
Corresponding Author
Rui Alexandre Novais
Available Online 3 October 2023.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-254-5_32How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Right-wing populist anti-media criticisms; Digital/Twitter; Brazil
Abstract

This work aimed to determine how a core ideational dimension of populism and a component of its communicative framework - anti-elitism - was strategically conveyed through tactical attacks on the media via digital platforms. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of the understudied attacks against the press through digital means of a right-wing populist president from the Global South during his first year in office, it unpacks the strategic use of digital anti-media criticisms of the enemy construction and the polarization of the media. It confirms Twitter as the preferred platform for Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-media attacks right from the outset of the term. The digital attacks portfolio ranged from discrediting media sectors for lying, displaying bias, and being the source of fake news that contradicted its foundational role of accurately informing the public to unduly assuming as an opposition political actor. Besides undermining journalism’s epistemic legitimacy and raising questions about its social role Bolsonaro further committed himself to the enemy construction of the press and only indirectly polarized the news media between friends and foes.

Copyright
© 2024 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the International Conference on Communication and Applied Technologies 2023 (ICOMTA 2023)
Series
Atlantis Highlights in Social Sciences, Education and Humanities
Publication Date
3 October 2023
ISBN
10.2991/978-94-6463-254-5_32
ISSN
2667-128X
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-254-5_32How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2024 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Rui Alexandre Novais
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/10/03
TI  - Divide et Impera? Populist Digital Anti-media Criticisms
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Communication and Applied Technologies 2023 (ICOMTA 2023)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 322
EP  - 331
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-254-5_32
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-254-5_32
ID  - Novais2023
ER  -