Hacking Hybrid Media:Power and Practice in an Age of Manipulation (Oxford Studies in Digital Politics)

by: Stephen R. Baard (Author)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Publication Date: 2024/8/20

Language: English

Print Length: 214 pages

ISBN-10: 0197570275

ISBN-13: 9780197570272

Book Description

The contemporary public sphere is rife with problematic information, but on what terms are manipulators able to gaer attention in the hybrid media system? In Hacking Hybrid Media, Stephen R. Baard examines how networked media capital is changing the fields of politics and joualism. With a focus on the messaging strategies employed by Donald Trump and his most vocal online supporters, Baard provides a theoretically oriented and empirically grounded analysis of the ways today's media afford deceptive political communication. Analyzing data from prominent political events, Baard shows how members of Trump's "digital army" use Facebook groups, Reddit forums, Twitter hashtags, YouTube channels, mass media, and more to shape the flow of disinformation in American media.From the structures of social media platforms to the practices of political actors, Baard offers a critical appraisal of media power and the capital required to wield it. He reflects not only on the tools and techniques of manipulative media campaigns, but also on the implications they hold for the future of joualism, politics, and democracy in the US and beyond. In striking a balance between social theory and empirical research, Hacking Hybrid Media shows how the emergent structures and practices of the contemporary media system shape how information flows, how meaning is made, and ultimately, how networked social influence works.

About the Author

The contemporary public sphere is rife with problematic information, but on what terms are manipulators able to gaer attention in the hybrid media system? In Hacking Hybrid Media, Stephen R. Baard examines how networked media capital is changing the fields of politics and joualism. With a focus on the messaging strategies employed by Donald Trump and his most vocal online supporters, Baard provides a theoretically oriented and empirically grounded analysis of the ways today's media afford deceptive political communication. Analyzing data from prominent political events, Baard shows how members of Trump's "digital army" use Facebook groups, Reddit forums, Twitter hashtags, YouTube channels, mass media, and more to shape the flow of disinformation in American media.From the structures of social media platforms to the practices of political actors, Baard offers a critical appraisal of media power and the capital required to wield it. He reflects not only on the tools and techniques of manipulative media campaigns, but also on the implications they hold for the future of joualism, politics, and democracy in the US and beyond. In striking a balance between social theory and empirical research, Hacking Hybrid Media shows how the emergent structures and practices of the contemporary media system shape how information flows, how meaning is made, and ultimately, how networked social influence works.