Papers by Katja Valaskivi
Journalism, 2021
In this article, we investigate the challenge of hybrid media events of terrorist violence for jo... more In this article, we investigate the challenge of hybrid media events of terrorist violence for journalism and analyse how news organizations manage epistemic modes in such events. Epistemic modes refer to different ways of knowing, which are managed by newsrooms through journalistic and editorial practices. We draw from an empirical study of terrorism-related news production in the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). Our data consist of thematic interviews ( N = 33) with Yle journalists, producers, and content managers and newsroom observations (14 days) conducted at Yle. The study investigates the data through a grounded theory approach with the aim of creating a theoretical understanding of knowledge production in hybrid media events. The results are drawn from a qualitative content analysis and close reading of the interview data, with the other data sets informing the core analysis. The article identifies seven epistemic modes of relevance to news production in hybrid media even...
Shades of hatred online: 4chan duplicate circulation surge during hybrid media events
First Monday
The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been... more The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been observed. While recent research indicates that events may lead to more hate speech, empirical evidence on the phenomenon remains limited. This study analyzes 4chan /pol/ user activity during the mass shootings in Christchurch and Pittsburgh and compares the frequency and nature of user activity prior to these events. We find not only a surge in the use of hate speech and anti-Semitism but also increased circulation of duplicate messages, links, and images and an overall increase in messages from users who self-identify as “white supremacist” or “fascist” primarily voiced from English-speaking IP-based locations: the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Great Britain. Finally, we show how these hybrid media events share the arena with other prominent events involving different agendas, such as the U.S. midterm elections. The significant increase in duplicates during the hybrid media events in th...
Social Media and Ambient Social Distance
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raisi... more This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raising the question of how social media activity constructs social distance, and in so doing conditions the dynamics of public discourse. By applying co-retweeted network analysis of retweeting in Japan during three consecutive years, the chapter shows how the ambient sense of community in Twitter feeds about Fukushima moved from an early ‘disaster utopia’ to a more acute political polarization that in the context of national nuclear politics is articulated as a core theme. Polarization of discussions in the aftermath of Fukushima, the general political landscape and the increasingly strategic use of social media lead to a mediated social geography where it is difficult for science and journalism to play a constructive role.
Towards a Geography of Mediated Affect: Discursive Spaces and Emotional Dynamics
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inhe... more This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inherited social and journalistic structures that anchor news coverage to a particular place, to an assumed audience and thus to specific affective dynamics and identities representation. Empirically, this chapter focuses on four levels of mainstream newspaper coverage—the local, the regional, the national and the international—and tracks how the image and meanings related of the disaster was re-negotiated over time, during five years after the event. By applying a computer-assisted modelling and quantitative text analysis of the key vocabularies of journalism at different levels, it highlights the way that mainstream media function as differentiated affective platforms that emphasize alternative sensibilities.
Liveness and Acceleration of Circulation
Hybrid Media Events, 2018
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter examines the role of experts and expertise in the news coverage of Fukushima Daiichi... more This chapter examines the role of experts and expertise in the news coverage of Fukushima Daiichi disaster by the Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio (YLE) between March 2011 and December 2016. The chapter analyses both YLE's news coverage and online comments about the news of Fukushima Daiichi. Reflecting findings from previous studies on perceptions on nuclear energy, expertise and affect, this chapter argues that experts often become nodal points of discussion that become sticky with affect. Moreover, the presence of sticky figures such as the experts appears to influence affective dynamics of online comments by often dividing the commenters into opposing positions.
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter studies temporal aspects of the Fukushima disaster from the perspective of rememberi... more This chapter studies temporal aspects of the Fukushima disaster from the perspective of remembering. This chapter demonstrates how the meanings, interpretations and uses of media events change and develop through time, as narratives and counter-narratives vary and shift. We demonstrate how temporal affordances are dependent on technological affordances and interpretations of a disruptive media event. This chapter contains a social network analysis (SNA) of commemorative tweets from 2016 demonstrating that public actors, such as media operators and NGOs like Greenpeace, gain the most retweets and thus the most visibility. This chapter ends with a qualitative analysis of Greenpeace International tweets 2011-2016 that demonstrate how temporal and technological affordances change the mode of tweeting.
The Global Circulation of Affect: The Case of Iodide Tablets
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter examines the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster through circulation of affect in a h... more This chapter examines the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster through circulation of affect in a hybrid media environment. Using the news coverage of potassium iodide tablet buying sprees in the Northern Hemisphere in March 2011 as its case study, this chapter examines how affect sticks and circulates in the news coverage, as areas outside Japan anticipated and speculated about the possible nuclear fallout from Fukushima Daiichi. The chapter introduces the notion of affective discipline and uses it to illustrate how distinct cultural tropes are used to manage circulation of affect during a crisis. Moreover, this chapter suggests that acts of affective discipline render visible the dual role of the public in crisis reporting: represented as panicky but addressed as rational.
Conclusion: Time, Space and Emotion in Tracing Fukushima
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
In this concluding chapter, we revisit the beginnings of our book and discuss the main findings o... more In this concluding chapter, we revisit the beginnings of our book and discuss the main findings of our project. The case studies presented herein are a unique combination of wide-ranging data from different sources, the innovative use of computational and qualitative methods and ambitious theoretical cross-pollination. This multifaceted approach has allowed us to address the hybrid logics of the circulation of meanings and emotions in the contemporary media environment over time. Moreover, our enquiries have made visible how mediated communication and affect are used by societies to maintain the status quo after traumatic, disruptive events. The findings provide new insight into disruptive events in the global hybrid media environment and into the way they are influenced by the factors of time, space and emotion.
Shades of hatred online: 4chan duplicate circulation surge during hybrid media events
First Monday
The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been... more The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been observed. While recent research indicates that events may lead to more hate speech, empirical evidence on the phenomenon remains limited. This study analyzes 4chan /pol/ user activity during the mass shootings in Christchurch and Pittsburgh and compares the frequency and nature of user activity prior to these events. We find not only a surge in the use of hate speech and anti-Semitism but also increased circulation of duplicate messages, links, and images and an overall increase in messages from users who self-identify as “white supremacist” or “fascist” primarily voiced from English-speaking IP-based locations: the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Great Britain. Finally, we show how these hybrid media events share the arena with other prominent events involving different agendas, such as the U.S. midterm elections. The significant increase in duplicates during the hybrid media events in th...
Social Media and Ambient Social Distance
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raisi... more This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raising the question of how social media activity constructs social distance, and in so doing conditions the dynamics of public discourse. By applying co-retweeted network analysis of retweeting in Japan during three consecutive years, the chapter shows how the ambient sense of community in Twitter feeds about Fukushima moved from an early ‘disaster utopia’ to a more acute political polarization that in the context of national nuclear politics is articulated as a core theme. Polarization of discussions in the aftermath of Fukushima, the general political landscape and the increasingly strategic use of social media lead to a mediated social geography where it is difficult for science and journalism to play a constructive role.
Towards a Geography of Mediated Affect: Discursive Spaces and Emotional Dynamics
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inhe... more This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inherited social and journalistic structures that anchor news coverage to a particular place, to an assumed audience and thus to specific affective dynamics and identities representation. Empirically, this chapter focuses on four levels of mainstream newspaper coverage—the local, the regional, the national and the international—and tracks how the image and meanings related of the disaster was re-negotiated over time, during five years after the event. By applying a computer-assisted modelling and quantitative text analysis of the key vocabularies of journalism at different levels, it highlights the way that mainstream media function as differentiated affective platforms that emphasize alternative sensibilities.
Liveness and Acceleration of Circulation
Hybrid Media Events, 2018
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter examines the role of experts and expertise in the news coverage of Fukushima Daiichi... more This chapter examines the role of experts and expertise in the news coverage of Fukushima Daiichi disaster by the Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio (YLE) between March 2011 and December 2016. The chapter analyses both YLE's news coverage and online comments about the news of Fukushima Daiichi. Reflecting findings from previous studies on perceptions on nuclear energy, expertise and affect, this chapter argues that experts often become nodal points of discussion that become sticky with affect. Moreover, the presence of sticky figures such as the experts appears to influence affective dynamics of online comments by often dividing the commenters into opposing positions.
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter studies temporal aspects of the Fukushima disaster from the perspective of rememberi... more This chapter studies temporal aspects of the Fukushima disaster from the perspective of remembering. This chapter demonstrates how the meanings, interpretations and uses of media events change and develop through time, as narratives and counter-narratives vary and shift. We demonstrate how temporal affordances are dependent on technological affordances and interpretations of a disruptive media event. This chapter contains a social network analysis (SNA) of commemorative tweets from 2016 demonstrating that public actors, such as media operators and NGOs like Greenpeace, gain the most retweets and thus the most visibility. This chapter ends with a qualitative analysis of Greenpeace International tweets 2011-2016 that demonstrate how temporal and technological affordances change the mode of tweeting.
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Papers by Katja Valaskivi