A battle for truth: Islam-related counterpublic discourse on Scandinavian news media Facebook pages

Abstract

In this article, I aim to contribute to existing literature on counterpublics by analysing the extent to which competing counterpublics regarding Islam appear in mainstream news outlets’ comment sections on Facebook. By utilising, and slightly modifying, Toepfl and Piwoni’s pioneering theoretical framework for analysing (counter)publics, I identify an Islam-hostile counterpublic and an Islam-sympathetic counterpublic that operate in the examined comment sections. I conducted a quantitative content analysis of Facebook posts (and associated articles) published by 15 established Scandinavian news outlets in 2018 ( N = 599) and the comments written by ordinary Facebook users in response ( N = 6797). I found the majority of the comments mirrored the views presented in the established media posts, but a substantial minority of the comments engaged in counterpublic discourses, contesting the bounds of established discourse around Islam in the Scandinavian public spheres.

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“…Our research suggests a potential future research subject for those interested in polarization and online communities. For scholars of polarization, our case shows that polarization does not only happen between counterpublics with different ideologies (Lien, 2022). Future studies should focus on possible cleavages between ideologically adjacent counterpublics within the same communication spaces.…”

“…Unlike most studies of alternative media framing that focus on alternative media versus mainstream (Toepfl & Piwoni, 2018), our study suggests that more attention ought to be spent looking inward at these various alternative media communities and how they deliberate and navigate their conflicting political frames (Cissel, 2012). Those interested in these questions of alternative media and the left should focus more on competing counterpublics, as Lien (2022) has done. Future research should extend our analysis by including as many left alternative media as possible to evaluate the level of fragmentation and what different interpretive communities emerge.…”

“…Furthermore, regarding the outward-oriented communication of counterpublics, the conflict between the mainstream and the counterpublic is usually highlighted in studies (Toepfl & Piwoni, 2018). Lien (2022), however, focuses on his study of Islam-related counterpublic discourse in the comment section of Facebook on competing counterpublics originating from different ideologies. Our study builds on this view by focusing on two potentially competing counterpublics within the same communicative space.…”

“…While alternative media and "counterpublics" have often been studied in comparison to the dominant mainstream public, few studies have focused on competing counterpublics (cf. Lien, 2022). This article looks at two contemporary alternative media outlets that focus on East Asian politics: the Qiao Collective (also sometimes referred simply as Qiao) and Lausan.…”

“…For analysis, we mainly rely on counterpublic and framing theory (Benford & Snow, 2000;Toepfl & Piwoni, 2018). While studies have focused mainly on the conflict between counterpublics and dominant publics (e.g., Toepfl & Piwoni, 2018), we are interested in competing counterpublics within the same communication space (Lien, 2022).…”