Closer to the people: A comparative content analysis of populist communication on social networking sites in pre- and post-Election periods

Desirée Schmuck,Michael Hameleers

doi:10.1080/1369118x.2019.1588909

Desirée Schmuck, Michael Hameleers

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2019.1588909

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Abstract

ABSTRACT A comparative content analysis explores stylistic and contextual factors that resonate with populist communication on social networking sites (SNSs). Advancing the field, we investigate differences in politicians’ use of populist communication in pre- and post-election periods by analyzing a comprehensive sample of Facebook posts and tweets (N = 1,010) of the leading candidates in the 2017 national parliamentary elections in Austria and the Netherlands. We identify important stylistic elements that resonate with populist political communication such as negative emotions or an us-versus-them rhetoric. Our findings further suggest that although populist communication is more prevalent in the SNS communication of right-wing and left-wing populist parties, political actors across all parties are more likely to use populist communication before than after elections. In line with recent conceptualizations, we argue that populism can be understood as a framework of communication with measurable sub frames, which can be expressed by different political actors with different goals. Understanding populism as a discursive framework of communication can ultimately help to reconcile existing divergent conceptualizations of populism.

Highlights

Politicians around the world rely heavily on so-called social networking sites (SNSs) such as Twitter and Facebook to reach out to their voters
The success enjoyed by populists in the digital space raises questions about the specific communication strategies and stylistic elements employed in populist political communication as well as the specific contextual structures, which may provide a breeding ground for the success of populist communication on SNSs
Our results revealed that negative emotions and negative tonality have informed politicians’ use of the populist framework, which resonates with previous findings that have characterized populist communication as highly emotionalized and oriented toward conflict (e.g., Fieschi & Heywood, 2006; Taggart, 2000)

Summary

Introduction

Politicians around the world rely heavily on so-called social networking sites (SNSs) such as Twitter and Facebook to reach out to their voters. SNSs may play a key role in facilitating the direct communication of populist actors and the people, as populist actors can circumvent journalists to establish and strengthen unmediated relationships with the people (e.g., Engesser, Ernst, Esser, & Büchel, 2016) Such self-communication aligns with the populist argument that traditional media represent the corrupt elites, as demonstrated by the populist scapegoating of traditional media for disseminating fake news. These actors may have a stronger tendency not to talk with journalists of certain traditional media outlets, they may still profit from the oxygen of publicity provided by journalists to their populist self-communication on SNSs. The SNS accounts of US President Donald Trump and European politicians Geert Wilders and H.C. Strache, among others, provide clear examples of populist self-communication distributed via Twitter and Facebook. Our research marks the first study in a comparative context that investigates the populist communication of mainstream and populist actors online, both before and after elections, by taking features of presentation style as well as context into account

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