McCargo, D orcid.org/0000-0002-4352-5734 (2017) New Media, New Partisanship: Divided Virtual Politics In and Beyond Thailand. International Journal of Communication, 11. pp. 4138-4157. ISSN 1932-8036
Abstract
Since the military coup of September 19, 2006, Thailand has been characterized by deeply divided politics. This article examines the rise of partisan television channels closely associated with mass protest movements: ASTV, Asia Update, and Blue Sky. Leading figures of each protest movement became media celebrities in their own right: Thai politics became a form of reality TV, while popular entertainment became a mode of politics. As time went on, mediatized populism fueled use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to promote partisan political stances. Each movement invoked its own competing notion of “the people,” offering highly selective and self-serving definitions of what constituted the public sphere and who was entitled to inhabit and, indeed, occupy this space. Partisan electronic media and new media have empowered citizens and deepened popular political engagement. But they have also stoked profound social division and discord, sometimes spilling over into violence. New media have helped generate dangerous forms of populism that undermine social cohesion and that demonize political adversaries.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 2017 (Duncan McCargo). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND). Available at http://ijoc.org. |
Keywords: | media, protest, rallies populism, Thailand |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Leverhulme Trust F00122BC |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Nov 2017 15:26 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2023 22:39 |
Published Version: | http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/6704 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | University of Southern California |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:123682 |