“Hi, Folks!” Attention Populism as a Strategy for Dominating the Dissonant Information Environment

Abstract

This study describes a strategy for dominating the digital political information environment: attention populism. Dissonance in the information environment is a significant trend that is forcing political communication to change. Strategies of political communications experts aimed at dominating the dissonant information environment, and thereby winning the support of various civic and electoral groups, are becoming increasingly apparent, especially among populist parties. We use discourse analysis in a case study to describe the communication strategy of the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš. We focus on his weekly long posts on Facebook that open with the greeting, “Hi, folks!” The case study demonstrates how attention populism works in contemporary political communication practice.