Counter-Cosmopolitanism, Counter-Democracy, Counter-Finlandization, Public Spheres, New Media, and Echo Chambers to Establish the Guiding Framework for the Analysis
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MKVM13 Master’s Thesis M.Sc. Media & Communications Arttu Einar Nikolai Närhi 901220-T332 Abstract Nationalist populist movements are on the rise across Europe. In Finland, the Finns Party became the primary oppositional movement against mainstream politics after their birth in 1995. The party political platform has been defined by nationalism, social conservatism, and populism. One of their main communication outlets is their online news website Suomen Uutiset, which publishes ordinary news alongside party communication. It is an important outreach tool, especially in a nation with many internet users. This thesis sets out to produce a reading of the Finns Party’s online news website SuomenUutiset.fi, and select material from the immigration critical internet forum Hommaforum.org. The analysis of this empirical material will demonstrate the underlying sociopolitical ideologies informing online news publishing for a political platform. The aim is to understand how the Finns Party utilizes media in communicating its policy and winning over the public. The theoretical framework draws on the work of globalization and cosmopolitanism researchers such as Ulrich Beck, David Held, Anthony Giddens, and Zygmunt Bauman. Counter- democracy by Pierre Rosanvallon is drawn upon too, along with theories on Finlandization, the public spheres, new media, echo chambers, and news media sensationalism. The research is conducted as an open content analysis of a case study, with a guiding methodology of Flyvbjerg’s phronetic research. The reading has been informed by a novel theoretical framework, combining concepts of counter-democracy, counter-cosmopolitanism, and counter-Finlandization under the umbrella term counter-ideology. The analysis shows the validity of this informing background ideology to be present across SuomenUutiset.fi coverage. What it has discovered is the intricate working of the counter-ideology informing the background of Finns Party politics. This research further proposes a way for understanding other similar cases located in similar contexts. The theoretical framework is recommended as an approach for researching populist politics in Europe, ones focused on resisting the European Union. Keywords: the Finns Party, Perussuomalaiset, populism, counter-democracy, counter- cosmopolitanism, counter-Finlandization, counter-ideology, public sphere, 1 MKVM13 Master’s Thesis M.Sc. Media & Communications Arttu Einar Nikolai Närhi 901220-T332 counterpublics, new media, legitimacy, echo chambers, Suomen Uutiset, Hommaforum, Euro sceptics, 2 MKVM13 Master’s Thesis M.Sc. Media & Communications Arttu Einar Nikolai Närhi 901220-T332 Acknowledgements For my father, mother, grandfather, grandmothers, sister, and brother; this research is dependent on the context you have provided for my life. Thank you. For Fredrik and Annette. Thank you for the inspiration, guidance, and possibility to undergo and complete this research. Thank you to MKVN Classes of 2016 and 2017 for the support and comradery over the last two years. Thank you to my girlfriend for the comfort and support seeing me through this process. 3 MKVM13 Master’s Thesis M.Sc. Media & Communications Arttu Einar Nikolai Närhi 901220-T332 Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction – The Finns Party of 2015 ............................................................................................ 7 2. The Counter-Ideology Framework .................................................................................................. 10 2.1. The Current Conversations in Media Research ..................................................................... 10 2.2. Setting the Stage for the Cosmopolitan Outlook: Globalization........................................... 12 2.2.1. What Globalization Promises and Delivers .................................................................... 13 2.3. The Cosmopolitan Outlook ...................................................................................................... 15 2.3.1. Reasons for Resisting Cosmopolitanism ......................................................................... 16 2.3.2. Towards an Understanding of Counter-Cosmopolitanism ........................................... 17 2.4. Counter-Democracy as Democratic Resistance ...................................................................... 19 2.4.1. Oversight by the People & its Populist Misuse ............................................................... 19 2.4.2. Legitimacy ......................................................................................................................... 20 2.5. The History of Finlandization .................................................................................................. 21 2.5.1. 21st Century Counter-Finlandization .............................................................................. 23 2.6. Deliberation and Information on the Internet ........................................................................ 24 2.6.1. The Diminishing Public Sphere ....................................................................................... 24 2.6.2. Politics on the Internet ...................................................................................................... 25 2.6.3. The Online Public Sphere that never was ....................................................................... 26 2.7. Summary ....................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3. Methods ................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. 3.1. Theoretical Overview ................................................................................................................ 29 3.2. Sampling .................................................................................................................................... 29 3.3. Strategic Selection ..................................................................................................................... 30 3.4. Limitations ................................................................................................................................. 31 3.5. Overview of Data ....................................................................................................................... 32 4. Case Study Background: SMP, Suomen Uutiset, and the Finns Party ........................................ 34 5. The Analysis of SuomenUutiset.fi and Hommaforum.org ............................................................ 37 5.1. Counter-Democratic Approaches to Policy Building ............................................................. 37 5.1.1. Denouncing the Opponents’ Legitimacy ......................................................................... 37 4 MKVM13 Master’s Thesis M.Sc. Media & Communications Arttu Einar Nikolai Närhi 901220-T332 5.1.2. Wielders of the Public Opinion ........................................................................................ 38 5.1.3. Policy Building with Citizen Initiatives ........................................................................... 39 5.1.4. Mistrust of Media Power .................................................................................................. 41 5.1.5. A Politically Non-aligned Counterpublic? ...................................................................... 43 5.1.6. Counter-Democracy against the Finns Party: the Case of Sebastian Tynkkynen ...... 45 5.2. Counter-Cosmopolitan Value Networks ................................................................................. 46 5.2.1. The Counter-Cosmopolitan Unity ................................................................................... 46 5.2.2. The European Union as the Scapegoat............................................................................ 48 5.2.3. An Essentialist Construction of Cultures ........................................................................ 49 5.2.4. Sensationalism leading to Radicalization ........................................................................ 51 5.3. Re-actualizing Finlandization .................................................................................................. 53 5.3.1. Reconstituting a 21st century counter-Finlandization .................................................... 53 5.3.2. Das Monster Eurozone ..................................................................................................... 54 5.3.3. The Economy of Values .................................................................................................... 56 5.3.4. An editor’s note on Terrorism ......................................................................................... 57 6. Conclusion – Towards an Understanding of Euro-critical Populism........................................... 58 7. Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 62 8. Appendix