Overview

The contemporary public sphere is rife with problematic information, but on what terms are manipulators able to garner attention in the hybrid media system? In Hacking Hybrid Media, Stephen R. Barnard examines how networked media capital is changing the fields of politics and journalism. With a focus on the messaging strategies employed by Donald Trump and his most vocal online supporters, Barnard provides a theoretically oriented and empirically grounded analysis of the ways today's media afford deceptive political communication. Analyzing data from prominent political events, Barnard shows how members of Trump's ""digital army"" use Facebook groups, Reddit forums, Twitter hashtags, YouTube channels, mass media, and more to shape the flow of disinformation in American media.From the structures of social media platforms to the practices of political actors, Barnard offers a critical appraisal of media power and the capital required to wield it. He reflects not only on the tools and techniques of manipulative media campaigns, but also on the implications they hold for the future of journalism, politics, and democracy in the US and beyond. In striking a balance between social theory and empirical research, Hacking Hybrid Media shows how the emergent structures and practices of the contemporary media system shape how information flows, how meaning is made, and ultimately, how networked social influence works.

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9780197570289

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Reviews

With an engaging voice and a sophisticated eye, Barnard shows the way the complex interplay of technological, political, social, and journalistic structures and practices give birth to what he terms networked media capital, a new form of media power that is both readily weaponized and distinctly damaging to the political information environment. Rich with empirically grounded theoretical insight, Hacking Hybrid Media is a must-read for scholars of political communication, media sociology, journalism, American democracy, and public discourse. * Sarah Sobieraj, Tufts University * As empirical research on media manipulation and disinformation has proliferated at a dizzying pace, social theory has been left behind. Thankfully, Stephen Barnard heard the call! Barnard rigorously engages this expansive research with an innovative analysis of how structural transformations of the networked public sphere have reconfigured relations of media and political power today. This incisive book will be a touchstone for social theorists for a long time to come. * Anthony Nadler, Ursinus College * Stephen Barnard's Hacking Hybrid Media provides a much-needed update on the changing dynamics of media power, and how this power is leveraged to manipulate publics. With this critical look at the hybrid media landscape -- its infrastructures, tools, practices -- Barnard makes an incisive contribution to our understanding of how and why the public sphere in the US is so broken. This is an essential book for anyone concerned with the media's influence on politics and publics. * Adrienne Russell, University of Washington * In this captivating read, Barnard delves into the intricate manipulative dynamics of digital communication. With finesse, he sheds light on how the hybrid media system's structures and cultures influence and promote resourceful individuals to engage in anti-democratic actions, jeopardizing our capacity to comprehend and disseminate information effectively. An essential book to understand what went wrong and how we can (try to) fix it. * Emiliano Treré, Cardiff University *

Author Information

Stephen R. Barnard is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Butler University. His work examines the role media and communication technologies play in relations of power, practice, and democracy. He is the author of Citizens at the Gates: Twitter, Networked Publics, and the Transformation of American Journalism, and co-author of All Media are Social: Sociological Perspectives on Mass Media. His scholarship has been published in New Media & Society, Journalism, Cultural Studies - Critical Methodologies, Hybrid Pedagogy, and in several edited volumes.

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