Political Information and Conspiracy Narratives in the Online
Civic Discourse of Global Crises

Political Information and Conspiracy Narratives in the Online Civic Discourse of Global Crises Tato aplikace je zatím určena pro spuštění na stolním počítači. Na tomto mobilním zařízení je také funkční, ale zatím plně nevyužívá jeho možností.

Tato aplikace je zatím určena pro spuštění na stolním počítači. Na tomto mobilním zařízení je také funkční, ale zatím plně nevyužívá jeho možností.

Detailed Information on Publication Record

NOVOTNÁ, Martina and Lenka VOCHOCOVÁ. Political Information and Conspiracy Narratives in the Online Civic Discourse of Global Crises. In ECPR General Conference. 2024.

Other formats: BibTeX LaTeX RIS

TY  - CONF
ID  - 63386
AU  - Novotná, Martina - Vochocová, Lenka
PY  - 2024
TI  - Political Information and Conspiracy Narratives in the Online Civic Discourse of Global Crises
KW  - Civil Society
KW  - Elites
KW  - Media
KW  - Populism
KW  - Identity
KW  - Social Media
KW  - Communication
KW  - Narratives
UR  - https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/PaperDetails/76824
N2  - Crisis times are connected with an increased level of fear and uncertainty, emphasising the importance of online discussion environments, which can provide participants with opportunities to share their frustrations and find communities with which they can share such fears and their political views. Both positive (uncertainty reduction) and negative (higher societal division, conspiracy narratives spreading) consequences are connected with such online discursive communities. Social media gives rise to the rapid dissemination of information, including false information, particularly during global crises. Conspiracies may be trusted more due to the urgent need for information, which might exacerbate the situation and cause unnecessary panic. In our paper, we aim to analyse what metanarratives help Czech citizens deal with unexpected crisis situations, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war, and the consequences of these crises for the discussants’ economic situation and autonomy. We analysed online discussions on Facebook pages of mainstream TV news to identify common patterns across both crises. We were specifically interested in how possible societal division and power inequalities are reflected in the dominant online metanarratives and in what forms and context the discussants express the perceived economic and social uncertainties. Our focus is on exploring to what extent populist rhetoric, such as the division between the people and the elites, distrust in official information and conspiracy theories, play a role in building perceptions of ongoing situations. Our study focused on the public Facebook pages of two major Czech TV stations, the ČT24, a public service broadcaster, and TN.CZ, a commercial medium. We collected data during the first wave of each crisis (COVID-19: 2020; Russo-Ukrainian war 2022) and one year after. We have selected seven top-performing Facebook posts related to crisis per discussion arena and a time slot for each crisis, sorted comments with the highest engagement, and coded 30 relevant comments regarding our research aim at each FB post. 1,680 comments in total were analysed, employing the grounded theory's open and axial coding procedures. Preliminary findings indicate that online discussants use repetitive metanarratives to articulate their low trust in information distributed by the media and political actors. People express their worries regarding the impact of governmental policies in crisis times on the domestic economy and on the personal freedom or opportunities of vulnerable members of society (children, economically marginalised, etc.). The media are frequent targets of dissatisfaction represented in the metanarratives as part of the ruling elites misinforming the citizens. Conspiracy theories appear in the comments across both types of crises (health and security) as expressions of civic dissatisfaction with the government measures perceived as the rule over the people, thus supporting discourses of civil disobedience. People claim that they need to take things into their own hands to protect themselves and their vulnerable. The implications of these repetitive narratives activated during crisis times for policymakers regarding crisis communication, as well as interpretations of the possible sources of low trust in official information, are further discussed.
ER  -

Basic information
Original name	Political Information and Conspiracy Narratives in the Online Civic Discourse of Global Crises
Authors	NOVOTNÁ, Martina and Lenka VOCHOCOVÁ.
Edition	ECPR General Conference, 2024.

Other information
Original language	English
Type of outcome	Presentations at conferences
Country of publisher	Ireland
Confidentiality degree	is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW	URL
Organization	Fakulta sociálních studií – Repository – Repository
Keywords in English	Civil Society; Elites; Media; Populism; Identity; Social Media; Communication; Narratives
Links	LX22NPO5101, research and development project.
Changed by	Changed by: RNDr. Daniel Jakubík, učo 139797. Changed: 6/9/2024 00:50.

Abstract

Crisis times are connected with an increased level of fear and uncertainty, emphasising the importance of online discussion environments, which can provide participants with opportunities to share their frustrations and find communities with which they can share such fears and their political views. Both positive (uncertainty reduction) and negative (higher societal division, conspiracy narratives spreading) consequences are connected with such online discursive communities. Social media gives rise to the rapid dissemination of information, including false information, particularly during global crises. Conspiracies may be trusted more due to the urgent need for information, which might exacerbate the situation and cause unnecessary panic. In our paper, we aim to analyse what metanarratives help Czech citizens deal with unexpected crisis situations, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war, and the consequences of these crises for the discussants’ economic situation and autonomy. We analysed online discussions on Facebook pages of mainstream TV news to identify common patterns across both crises. We were specifically interested in how possible societal division and power inequalities are reflected in the dominant online metanarratives and in what forms and context the discussants express the perceived economic and social uncertainties. Our focus is on exploring to what extent populist rhetoric, such as the division between the people and the elites, distrust in official information and conspiracy theories, play a role in building perceptions of ongoing situations. Our study focused on the public Facebook pages of two major Czech TV stations, the ČT24, a public service broadcaster, and TN.CZ, a commercial medium. We collected data during the first wave of each crisis (COVID-19: 2020; Russo-Ukrainian war 2022) and one year after. We have selected seven top-performing Facebook posts related to crisis per discussion arena and a time slot for each crisis, sorted comments with the highest engagement, and coded 30 relevant comments regarding our research aim at each FB post. 1,680 comments in total were analysed, employing the grounded theory's open and axial coding procedures. Preliminary findings indicate that online discussants use repetitive metanarratives to articulate their low trust in information distributed by the media and political actors. People express their worries regarding the impact of governmental policies in crisis times on the domestic economy and on the personal freedom or opportunities of vulnerable members of society (children, economically marginalised, etc.). The media are frequent targets of dissatisfaction represented in the metanarratives as part of the ruling elites misinforming the citizens. Conspiracy theories appear in the comments across both types of crises (health and security) as expressions of civic dissatisfaction with the government measures perceived as the rule over the people, thus supporting discourses of civil disobedience. People claim that they need to take things into their own hands to protect themselves and their vulnerable. The implications of these repetitive narratives activated during crisis times for policymakers regarding crisis communication, as well as interpretations of the possible sources of low trust in official information, are further discussed.

Type	Name	Uploaded/Created by	Uploaded/Created
	ECPR_conference_24_Official_Lies.pdf		6/9/2024
Properties Name ECPR_conference_24_Official_Lies.pdf Address within IS https://repozitar.cz/auth/repo/63386/1809385/ Address for the users outside IS https://repozitar.cz/repo/63386/1809385/ Address within Manager https://repozitar.cz/auth/repo/63386/1809385/?info Address within Manager for the users outside IS https://repozitar.cz/repo/63386/1809385/?info Uploaded/Created Fri 6/9/2024 00:50 Rights Right to read anyone on the Internet Right to upload Right to administer: a concrete person RNDr. Daniel Jakubík, uco 139797 a concrete person Mgr. Eva Zárybnická, DiS., uco 206552 a concrete person Mgr. Jolana Surýnková, uco 220973 a concrete person Mgr. Michal Maňas, uco 2481 Attributes

Print
Add to clipboard Displayed: 27/9/2024 00:18

Detailed Information on Publication Record

Properties

Rights

Other applications