TY - JOUR

T1 - Conspiratorial webs

T2 - Media ecology and parallel realities in Turkey

AU - Hoyng, Rolien Susanne

AU - Es, Murat

PY - 2017/12/31

Y1 - 2017/12/31

N2 - This article aims to contribute to a theory of populism that considers not just discursive antagonistic struggle but also the material-ecological dynamics of communication reshaping populist politics. By focusing on Turkey’s “split media ecology,” which is both censored and algorithmically filtered, we show that instead of simply instituting disconnection and blockage, censorship also exploits connectivity and triggers further communication. The paradox of blockage and flow supports the proliferation ofconspiracy theories and results in the conception of moral, epistemological, and ontological orders for Internet communication. The question is how media-ecologicalaffordances reconfigure antagonistic struggle and populist politics. We argue that emerging political strategy exploits connectivity and flow while incapacitating and excluding other networks. Thereby, the segregations of the split media ecology support flexible rearticulations of the “enemy” on behalf of sovereign power. Yet techno-cultural dynamics including netwar and post-truth media engagement also prove detrimental to sovereign power as we know it.

AB - This article aims to contribute to a theory of populism that considers not just discursive antagonistic struggle but also the material-ecological dynamics of communication reshaping populist politics. By focusing on Turkey’s “split media ecology,” which is both censored and algorithmically filtered, we show that instead of simply instituting disconnection and blockage, censorship also exploits connectivity and triggers further communication. The paradox of blockage and flow supports the proliferation ofconspiracy theories and results in the conception of moral, epistemological, and ontological orders for Internet communication. The question is how media-ecologicalaffordances reconfigure antagonistic struggle and populist politics. We argue that emerging political strategy exploits connectivity and flow while incapacitating and excluding other networks. Thereby, the segregations of the split media ecology support flexible rearticulations of the “enemy” on behalf of sovereign power. Yet techno-cultural dynamics including netwar and post-truth media engagement also prove detrimental to sovereign power as we know it.

KW - censorship

KW - media ecology

KW - post-truth

KW - populism

KW - Turkey

M3 - Journal article

VL - 11

SP - 4219

EP - 4238

JO - International Journal of Communication

JF - International Journal of Communication

SN - 1932-8036

ER -