Populism and social media: how politicians spread a fragmented ideology

ABSTRACT

Populism is a relevant but contested concept in political communication research. It has been well-researched in political manifestos and the mass media. The present study focuses on another part of the hybrid media system and explores how politicians in four countries (AT, CH, IT, UK) use Facebook and Twitter for populist purposes. Five key elements of populism are derived from the literature: emphasizing the sovereignty of the people, advocating for the people, attacking the elite, ostracizing others, and invoking the ‘heartland’. A qualitative text analysis reveals that populism manifests itself in a fragmented form on social media. Populist statements can be found across countries, parties, and politicians’ status levels. While a broad range of politicians advocate for the people, attacks on the economic elite are preferred by left-wing populists. Attacks on the media elite and ostracism of others, however, are predominantly conducted by right-wing speakers. Overall, the paper provides an in-depth analysis of populism on social media. It shows that social media give the populist actors the freedom to articulate their ideology and spread their messages. The paper also contributes to a refined conceptualization and measurement of populism in future studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Populism
• social media
• politics
• ideology
• qualitative text analysis

Aknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Center of Competence in Research on ‘Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century’ (NCCR Democracy), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Notes on contributor

Sven Engesser is Senior Research and Teaching Associate at the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. He has received his PhD from LMU Munich. His research focuses on political communication, science communication, and media systems. Address: Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Andreasstrasse 15, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland. [email: [email protected]]

Nicole Ernst is Research and Teaching Assistant at the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. She is writing her PhD about populist communication in the media by adopting an international and intermedia comparison approach. Address: Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Andreasstrasse 15, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland. [email: [email protected]]

Frank Esser is Professor of International and Comparative Media Research at the University of Zurich. His recent books include ‘Mediatization of Politics’ (Palgrave, 2014) and ‘Handbook of Comparative Communication Research’ (Routledge, 2012). Address: Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Andreasstrasse 15, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland. [email: [email protected]]

Florin Büchel is Research and Teaching Assistant at the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. He is writing his PhD about journalistic reporting styles in election campaigns compared across several countries. Additionally, he is interested in various aspects of social scientific methodology, media sociology, political communication, and normative media theory. Address: Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Andreasstrasse 15, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland. [email: [email protected]]