Haters as Anti-Fans? Accruing Capital through Audiences Who Hate Journalists

Abstract

Within journalism literature, the relationship between journalists and their haters, the audiences who threaten journalistic authority, has been portrayed as antagonistic. However, fan studies scholarship suggests that anti-fans can be just as engaged, committed, and beneficial as fans. In fact, they contribute to solidifying the celebrity’s fame and status. Borrowing insight from anti-fandom literature that suggests the symbiotic relationship between haters and the celebrity, this study sheds new light on viewing the relationship between journalists and haters. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 40 South Korean journalists who have experienced harassment and hateful expressions from the audience, this study investigates that journalists capitalize on anti-journalist hate in several ways: they use anti-journalist hate as indications of their journalistic performance, which allows them to gain respect from their peers and establish reputation. This newly acquired symbolic capital, in turn, leads journalists to make better social connections with their informants and accrue social capital. This study concludes with the implications of digital hate becoming a capital within the journalism field.