Far right alternative news media as ‘indignation mobilization mechanisms’: how the far right opposed the Global Compact for Migration

ABSTRACT

The paper analyses the role of alternative far-right media in promoting and organizing mobilization against the Global Compact for Migration – the first intergovernmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations, covering all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner. Exploring four European alternative far-right media: PI-News in Germany, Il Primato Nazionale in Italy, the UK localization of Breitbart, and the transnational Voice of Europe, we show that these media have gone beyond (dis)informing and have actively mobilized and channeled indignation through petitioning and protest organization. While most research on far-right media practices so far has focused either on social media interactions or exclusively on ‘disinformation’ and ‘fake news’, we analyse web based alternative news media as part of а far-right social movement that has successfully used progressive left-wing protests repertoires and tactics. We argue that alternative far-right news media act as ‘indignation mobilization mechanisms’ that not only fuel the indignation of the public by channeling the messages of far-right politicians but also channel bottom-up indignation through online campaigns, petitions, and offline street protests. This unabashedly biased and mobilization-oriented approach is what distinguishes far-right media from mainstream media and guarantees them a loyal and dedicated supporter base.

KEYWORDS:

• Far right
• alternative media
• disinformation
• indignation
• protest

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Michael Baurmann and Prof. Dr. Ulrike Klinger for having me as a visiting researcher at The Center for Advanced Internet Studies in Bochum and The Weizenbaum Institute in Berlin. The original idea for this article came during my research stays there. Thank you also to the anonymous reviewers whose careful and constructive comments improved the article substantially.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julia Rone

Julia Rone is a postdoctoral researcher at The Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at CRASSH, University of Cambridge. In 2020, she published the book Contesting Austerity and Free Trade in the EU: Protest Diffusion in Complex Media and Political Arenas. In 2019–2020 Julia was a Wiener-Anspach fellow studying conflicts of sovereignty in the EU. In 2018, she was a visiting fellow at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin and the Centre for Advanced Internet Studies in Bochum. Her current research focuses on techno-politics, more specifically debates around digital sovereignty and the rise of the far right online.