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Bianca Welker Degree Programme Faculty: Faculty of Social Department: Centre for European Studies Sciences Author: Bianca Welker Degree programme: Master in European and Nordic Studies Title: Narrating the Covid-19 Crisis: How German populist far-right alternative online news media have framed the global pandemic during 2020. Level: Master’s Thesis Date: May 2021 Number of Pages: 81 Abstract Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, alternative online news media were predominately thought to spread false information on the coronavirus and heavily engage in conspiracy theories. The populist and far-right news outlets especially were said to strategically exploit people’s fears to further their own hate campaigns against migrants, political elites and the established media. This research aims to give a more detailed account of how five German populist far-right digital news outlets framed the ongoing crisis from January to May 2020 and managed to integrate the topic into their established narratives. For this qualitative content analysis, articles from the digital news sites of Compact, Junge Freiheit, Eigentümlich Frei, Deutsche Stimme and Zuerst were analysed regarding the topics, claims, actors and rhetoric devices that they used. The result of the study was that, rather than being swayed by strategic whims to exploit the crisis at all costs, the outlets relied on their established framing habits and were able to incorporate the crisis into all of their usual reporting. They were able to integrate the topic into overarching narratives, which not only confirmed worldviews held by their established reader base, but may also hold significant sway over new readers seeking reassurance in uncertain times. Finally, the thesis directed attention to the importance that language and presentation played in accomplishing this balancing act, establishing the need for further research on the language of the populist far right online. Keywords: Covid-19; alternative news media; online right-wing media; crisis framing; narrative analysis; far-right populism; Germany; comparative media studies; qualitative content analysis; anti-lockdown demonstrations; disinformation. Where deposited Additional Information UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI | FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES | MASTER PROGRAM IN EUROPEAN AND NORDIC STUDIES NARRATING THE COVID-19 CRISIS. How German populist far-right alternative online news media have framed the global pandemic during 2020. Bianca Welker Master’s Thesis May 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2 Chapter 2: Theoretical Background ............................................................................................... 5 2.1. Understanding PRAM news coverage through Frame Theory applications ................................ 5 2.2. Identifying the PRAM’s Framing Environment during the Pandemic ........................................ 11 Chapter 3: The Covid-19 pandemic in Germany and background on the populist far right .............18 3.1. The Covid-19 pandemic in Germany and anti-lockdown demonstrations ................................. 18 3.2. The political and medial context of PRAMs and the far right in Germany ................................. 21 3.3. Presenting the five PRAMs to be analysed ................................................................................. 24 Chapter 4: Data collection and analysis parameters......................................................................31 4.1. Analysis parameters ................................................................................................................... 31 4.2. Data Collection and Analysis ...................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 5: How the PRAM framed the Covid-19 Pandemic ...........................................................39 5.1. Overview of the main results ..................................................................................................... 40 5.2. Narrative themes ........................................................................................................................ 46 5.3. The importance of language in communicating shared mental frameworks ............................ 65 Chapter 6: Conclusion ..................................................................................................................70 Literature ....................................................................................................................................74 Acknowledgements While a thesis is ultimately a test of one’s own perseverance and ambition, it becomes just that much easier to accomplish thanks to the professional and personal support and guidance of many wonderful people. My supervisor Lotta Lounasmeri I would like to thank for extending a helping hand and being always available to give advice on specific questions throughout the process. During the Covid pandemic, she has gone above and beyond, offering virtual hangouts to all students to talk with her about their academic and personal struggles. I have not made use of the offer, but it was greatly reassuring to know that there was someone there, always ready to listen. Daniel Sallamaa, also from the University of Helsinki, I would like to thank for the brilliant and inspiring conversations we had about Right-wing Extremism, my early thesis plans and the great coffee. Due to pandemic restrictions, not much is left of the topic we initially spoke about, but I dearly hope he will not consider his time wasted. His astute remarks and general advice will serve me well for years to come and I am grateful that he has shared his time with me so freely. Leena Malkki I would like to thank for her support and interest in my personal well-being that she has expressed, and most of all her belief in my capability throughout my studies and early in the thesis process. Unbeknownst to her, I have kept her words very close to my heart, especially on days that I doubted myself. On a personal note, I would like to thank my mother for single-handedly keeping the family off my back with their well-intentioned but stressful questions about job prospects and thesis deadlines. Sometimes, being given space to breathe is the best kind of support anyone could hope for. Caelum Davis I am thanking for being an overall good friend, providing just the right amount of gentle pressure to get my shit together, while being always supportive and to remind me that a thesis is not the pinnacle of my life’s work. Julian Webb I am grateful to for helping with the editing process. I hope that he has not questioned his career choices in the face of all these misplaced quotation marks, italics and capitalisation errors. Unusual times such as these require unusual acknowledgements. I would like to thank all the amazing people on the FSC Study Server on Discord and the virtual study community we have built together. To be able to study together with other people has become a privilege in these times, and I am deeply grateful for all their love and support. Finally, I am thanking all the excellent composers of movie and game soundtracks and the countless creators of background ambiences on YouTube. Being deprived of the real-life ambience of libraries, it was good to be able to metaphorically step into the Hogwarts library instead. Exploring the diversity of all these auditory worlds was a much needed counterbalance to the tedious and narrow-minded nature of the far-right content analysed on the following pages. 1 Chapter 1: Introduction The global pandemic caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) represents a fundamental crisis, which disrupted the usual state of affairs in almost all sectors of society. When the first reports of a new infectious disease originating in Wuhan reached Europe in December and January of 2020, it was hardly of any serious concern to average citizens in Europe. On March 11th the WHO announced that Covid-19 constituted a global pandemic and was “not just a public health crisis”, but rather a crisis affecting everyday aspects of people’s lives (WHO 2020). In conjunction with rising case numbers in Europe, the first governments announced nationwide lockdowns. Italy, suffering the first mass outbreak in Europe, began its regional lockdowns around February 21st, whereas in Germany, which is the subject of this thesis, the nationwide lockdown came about on March 22nd. A crisis of such magnitude causes abrupt fissures in several areas of society and may serve to radically alter the perceptions of the state of the world, as was experienced in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the global financial crisis or the recent migration crisis. Covid-19 may have facilitated an even greater personal uncertainty among a far bigger group of people, because it was not concerned with more abstract concepts such as terrorism, markets and immigration, but rather the personal freedom of movement and health of the personal body. Future research will surely analyse the exact psychological impact of the pandemic on society, yet it has already been established in previous research that crises foster an environment of uncertainty, in which straightforward narratives and decisive framing efforts are more widespread and in greater demand from media outlets, political leaders, experts
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