Browsing by Subject "fragmentation"

This study examines an online counter media publication in Finland. The 800 sample articles were collected during the spring 2016. Articles address social, political and cultural issues on national and international levels. This study examines how the publication aims to construe a sense of reality. The theoretical framework of the study is presented through a variation of global media and communication perspectives such as media life, mediatisation, fragmentation and the public sphere. These theories demonstrate that in a mediated society readers and media consumers face daily challenges in evaluating media content. Constructing factuality and detecting fakeness in the media have become a global talking point in the media, academia and public discussions. Moreover, in fragmented media life consumers are divided into small segments and consumption patterns are based on individual preferences and lifestyles. These aspects may also have further consequences to the ideal of the public sphere. Through the means of quantitative content analysis and qualitative frame analysis this case study reveals that the style of presentation and linguistic framing methods together construct a troubled sense of reality by manifesting on mutual feelings of uncertainty, unfairness and untrustworthiness towards mainstream media and traditional power structures in the Finnish context. The publication employs familiar journalistic conventions in the style of presentation, but distinctive components are absent, such as clear style and valid referencing as well as transparent reporter identities and reporting methods. The large number of published articles per day on one hand may create a sense of continuity, but on the other hand, indicates that planning, production, publishing and broadcasting may be practiced carelessly resulting in errors and repetition. By combining the traditional news-like format with an unconventional style of representing the outlet aims to establish a form of social reality which is driven by all-consuming uncertainty. The findings reveal that the publication does not focus on rationalising or explaining complex problems with exhaustive solutions, but rather circulates speculative frames that potentially aim to reinforce the state of dubiety already exciting in the publication’s readers’ media lives. Finally, the findings underline the importance of open public discussion as well as media literacy and media technology education. This study demonstrates that new media outlets do not necessarily fit in to the traditional theoretical and practical research conventions but instead require hybrid approach and explanations. The study offers a view point to the current media landscape that consists of traditional mainstream media but also of non-professional and semi-professional content producers and providers as well as social media sites and online networks. The study takes part in the ongoing discussion about the state of pseudo professional online publications and argues that the everyday essence of the digital media content impacts how the sense of reality is established. In addition to traditional media producers and political actors, alternative and counter publications, as well as users themselves, take part in the battle to define the social world in the mediated society.