MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research 

About: MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research is an academic journal published by Society of Media Researchers In Denmark. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Digital media & Social media. It has an ISSN identifier of 0900-9671. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 515 publications have been published receiving 2814 citations.

Engagement, bonding, and identity across multiple platforms: Avaaz on Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace

Abstract: This article explores the role of social media platforms in transnational activism by examining the case of Avaaz.org, an international advocacy organization aiming to bring people-powered politics to global decision-making. Focusing on the Avaaz website, its channel on YouTube, its page on Facebook and its profile page on MySpace, the article investigates the affordances of these platforms for identity-building, bonding, and engagement. The empirical data is derived from features analysis of the selected web platforms, as well as textual analysis of the comments posted by users. The findings show that while social media platforms make individual voices more visible, their design helps Avaaz to maintain a coherent collective voice. In terms of bonding, platforms allow individual activists to communicate with the organization and to spread its message to their existing social networks, but opportunities for private interpersonal communication with other Avaaz supporters are limited.

The dark side of online activism : Swedish right-wing extremist video activism on YouTube

Abstract: In recent years, an emerging body of work, centred on specific communicative forms used in facilitating collective and connective action, have contributed to greater understanding of how digital communication relates to social mobilisation. Plenty of these studies highlight the progressive potentiality of digital communication. However, undemocratic actors also utilise the rapid advancement in digital technology. This article explores the online video activism of extreme right-wing groups in Sweden. It analyses more than 200 clips on YouTube, produced by five right-wing extremist organisations. The study shows that the extreme right deploy video activism as a strategy of visibility to mobilise and strengthen activists. Moreover, the groups attempt to alter the perception of (historically-rooted) socio-political identities of the extreme right. Furthermore, YouTube becomes a political arena in which action repertoires and street politics are adapted to the specific characteristics of online video activism. Finally, video activism could be understood as an aestheticisation of politics.

The mediatization of journalism

Abstract: Proposing an explanation of current macro-sociological changes and institutional transformations in journalism, this article argues that journalism is currently undergoing a process of mediatization. Drawing upon the international research literature as well as statements from interviews with news workers working on Danish news websites, the article examines four current trends in journalism that are closely connected to the rise of news on the web, namely the use of the affordances of news websites, radical commercialization, increased audience participation in news production, and the increased multi-skilling and simultaneous de-skilling of journalists. Taken together, these trends reflect a process through which journalism increasingly subsumes itself to the logic of the media, suggesting mediatization as an adequate explanatory framework. One implication of such a process is that journalism seems to be transforming from an occupational profession into an organizational one.