Challenging Journalistic Authority

Boundary Work: Intermedia Agenda-Setting Between Right-Wing Alternative Media and Professional Journalism

“…This development is also evident in Scandinavia, where the outlets range from conservativesvia populiststo far-right extremists in their ideological orientations (Haller, Holt, and de La Brosse 2019). Regarding the cases of this study, the ideological orientation of the Norwegian Document and Human Rights Service, the Swedish Avpixlat and Fria Tider, and the Danish Den Korte Avis can be placed on what Figenschou and Ihlebaek (2018) call the "border of the sphere of legitimacy". This means that while they are sometimes invited into the mainstream media debate, they are often dismissed for being too radical.…”

“…Generally, the scholarly literature highlights that these outlets blur the boundaries between objective news reporting and commentaries (Holt 2016b;Nygaard 2019) and that they reject or have an unclear relationship with press ethics and editorial responsibilities (Holt 2016a;Sandberg and Ihlebaek 2019). Figenschou and Ihlebaek (2018) examined how Norwegian outlets claim authority as media critics and found that media criticism is typically presented as a reaction to particular mainstream media news stories, which are used to substantiate generic claims that professional journalists are elitist, politically correct, biased and distanced from the people.…”

“…This study examines and compares intermedia agenda-setting between Norwegian, Swedish and Danish right-wing alternative media outlets and mainstream online newspapers. Right-wing alternative media typically question and challenge journalistic authority (Figenschou and Ihlebaek 2018), and their core message is that the mainstream media conceal or distort information about the negative consequences of immigration (Haller and Holt 2018). These outlets also have a strong resentment towards professional journalistic ethics and norms (Holt 2016a).…”

Key Dimensions of Alternative News Media

“…The individual micro-level of content producers-whether the proprietary content is mostly produced by journalists or alternative producers such as citizen journalists or activistsrepresent one key dimension of alternative news media. Although many writers and editors in alternative media also have professional backgrounds from the mainstream media (see Harcup, 2005, Figenschou & Ihlebaek, 2018, alternative media have traditionally been associated with a democratic-bottom up inclusion of non-professionals such as fans, native journalists, marginalized groups or citizens (see Atton, 2015). The far-right-wing blog PI-news in Germany, for example, offers its readers the easy option to become a 'reporter' by anonymously publishing own content or 'interesting' content published elsewhere (25.02.2019).…”

“…First, we argue that the academic and popular debate regarding whether such right-wing media (from radical right to extreme right) can be conceptualized as alternative, and the flourishing of related terms such as hyper-partisan media, makes the implicit normative perception of 'alternative media' visible. Second, studies have shown that far-right online media (and other new media initiatives) often employ similar discursive strategies on power, hegemony and resistance as other alternative media, positioning themselves as 'outsiders' and 'critics', marginalized by and in opposition to 'the mainstream media hegemony' (Haller & Holt, 2018;Figenschou & Ihlebaek, 2018). Because contemporary rightwing alternative media both rely on and strategically use the same counter-hegemonic discourses as other alternative news media, we argue that it is fruitful to study and theorize these new phenomena in relation to the extant body of literature.…”