Integration or Isolation? Mapping Out the Position of Radical Right Media in the Public Sphere

Authors

  • Ov Cristian Norocel University of Helsinki
  • Gabriella Szabó Center for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Márton Bene Center for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Keywords:

Hungary, political communication, public sphere, radical right media, Romania

Abstract

The study explores the validity of the media visibility thesis in a cross-country comparative framework, concentrating on the position of media outlets sympathetic or affiliated to the populist radical right parties in the public spheres in Hungary and Romania. The visibility of such media outlets in the public sphere is considered crucial in the context of discursive opportunities for political mobilization, whereby the presence of discursive elements of populist radical right communication in mainstream media is understood as empirical evidence for the visibility of populist radical right politics. We analyze first the characteristics of media discourses. We then identify the positions of radical right media products in relation to mainstream media. Using network analysis as a methodological approach, we evince the differences and similarities pertaining to the location of radical right media in the wider network architecture of the public spheres in Hungary and Romania.

Author Biographies

Ov Cristian Norocel, University of Helsinki

Affiliated Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Helsinki (HY/HU/UH), and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

Gabriella Szabó, Center for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Research Fellow in the Center for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Márton Bene, Center for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Junior Research Fellow in the Center for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

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Published

2017-09-29

Issue

Section

Articles