Which Online Counter-Publics on Facebook are Fostering Agonistic Respect? An Assessment of Counter-Publics Debating Germany’s Refugee Policy

Mapping Emerging and Legacy Outlets Online by Their Democratic Functions—Agonistic, Deliberative, or Corrosive?

“…Our measurement tools did not distinguish against whom the uncivil and impolite statements were directed. Our results can therefore be supplemented by qualitative research that investigates how exactly particular groups are constructed as illegitimate enemies within different outlets and online spaces (Freudenthaler 2020).…”

“…In studying these outlets, it turns out that both pro- and contra-refugee groups cite legacy news media outlets and supplement their content with partisan or activist reporting sympathetic to their respective views. The rationale for including the outlets in each category is described in greater detail in Section A of the Supplemental Information file—we used public data on the number of website visits, counts of social media likes and shares, and the data analyzed in Freudenthaler (2020).…”

“…Our goal was to capture a broad spectrum of outlets that represent both the coverage of mainstream journalistic outlets as well as partisan and activist media that contributed to the mediated debate about refugee policy. To do so, we expand on our own previous research about public groups on Facebook that discussed the issue (Freudenthaler 2020) where we found different pro-and contra-refugee camps. We also build on extant research about alternative media linked to the far-right populist party AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) (Bachl 2018).…”

The Interpretive Interface: Where Journalistic and Pluralistic Discourses (Don’t) Meet

“…(Larson & McHendry, 2019). This dynamic furthers the discussion on the limits of free speech, the need to set boundaries between counter and hate speech, and the extent to which democracy should defend itself against anti-democratic discourses (Freudenthaler, 2020;Cammaerts, 2009). Thus, while acknowledging that "disagreements over truth signal appeals to different communities of interpretation, with their own standards of evidence, significance, and style" (Pauly, 1990, p. 122), the interpretive turn does raise questions about the democratic limits of opinion journalism within current Western public spheres.…”

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

“…Even fewer studies have considered online counterpublics emanating from competing ideologies (cf. Freudenthaler, 2020; Neumayer, 2013; Xu, 2020). Some of the most contentious international issues, such as climate change and migration, are highly polarised issues in several societies, with groups on different sides of the debate who feel that the public sphere does not adequately reflect their views.…”