Journalist-Activist Boundary Work in Populist Times: The #NazisRaus Debate in German Media

ABSTRACT

When broadcast journalist Nicole Diekmann tweeted “Nazis out,” she launched a large cultural discussion in the German Twittersphere—the hashtag #NazisRaus began to trend, prompting politicians, celebrities, and other journalists to partake. This paper begins by analyzing the developing discourses surrounding Diekmann’s tweet via a two-fold qualitative content analysis, looking at both the @replies to her tweet and the emergent media coverage about the debate. The analyses yield that user commentary was predominantly positive, with many commending Diekmann for taking a stance against right-wing populism in Germany. Users debated the message itself, its social acceptability, and feasibility. Journalistic treatments of the #NazisRaus controversy was overall much more critical, with most journalist reprimanding Diekmann for engaging in activism as a fellow journalist, using examples of hate-speech to show what happens to journalists who dabble in activism. Building on these results, this paper then investigates the lessons of the #NazisRaus debate with a focus on the link between activist journalistic practice and its boundary work, arguing that the present political climate and growing right-wing culture might prompt journalists to engage in more activist public communication practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Activism by journalists
• journalists on Twitter
• social media controversy
• hashtag debate
• online solidarity
• boundary work

Disclosure Statement

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