How Users of British Media Websites Make a Bogeyman of George Soros
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Matthias J. Becker
Abstract
In this article we present the results of a qualitative content analysis of online reader comments in British traditional mainstream media. Our aim was to determine the extent to which users respond with antisemitic attributions in the comments under newspaper articles that discuss George Soros. To this end, we selected three events in the year 2020 where reporting on Soros in The Guardian, The Independent, and the Daily Mail triggered discussion. For these events, we examined comments sections on the news websites and the media’s Facebook profiles for antisemitic attributions. With the linguistic form of the attributions as our focus, we used a pragmalinguistic toolbox to analyse implicit, contextual language use. The comments included classic stereotypes, conspiracy theories, victimperpetrator reversal and death wishes. The results reveal the relevance of using an investigative design capable of capturing implicit language use in the analysis of hate speech.
© 2022 by Academic Studies Press
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Contents
- Editorial
- Theme Editorial
- THEME ARTICLES: ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS OF RUSSIAN ANTIZIONISM: SOME CONTEXT FOR TODAY’S PROPAGANDA OPERATION AGAINST UKRAINE
- Demonization Blueprints: Soviet Conspiracist Antizionism in Contemporary Left-Wing Discourse
- Durban Antizionism: Its Sources, Its Impact, and Its Relation to Older Anti-Jewish Ideologies
- GENERAL ARTICLES
- The Generalised Antisemitism (GeAs) Scale: A Questionnaire Instrument for Measuring Antisemitism as Expressed in Relation Both to Jews and to Israel
- How Users of British Media Websites Make a Bogeyman of George Soros
- Surging, Stable, or Subdued: The Jewish Perception of Antisemitism in Canada’s Southernmost Region
- Does Academic Freedom Protect Antisemitism?—Part II: Social Media, Antizionism, and the End of Academic Freedom
- Gab as Disseminator of Antisemitic Conspiracy Myths and Enabler of Offline Violence
- The Mainstreaming of American Antisemitism: The Defeat of an Ideal
- RESEARCH NOTE
- The Decoding Antisemitism Project—Reflections, Methods, and Goals
- IN MEMORIAM: PETE NEWBON, 1983–2022
- In Memory of Pete Newbon
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Key Concepts in the Study of Antisemitism. Edited by Sol Goldberg, Scott Ury, and Kalman Weiser. London: Palgrave, 2021. 354 pages. $29.99.
- Why Do People Discriminate against Jews?
- The Holocaust and North Africa
- Looking for an Enemy: 8 Essays on Antisemitism
- Israel Denial: Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism, and the Faculty Campaign against the Jewish State
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Contents
- Editorial
- Theme Editorial
- THEME ARTICLES: ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS OF RUSSIAN ANTIZIONISM: SOME CONTEXT FOR TODAY’S PROPAGANDA OPERATION AGAINST UKRAINE
- Demonization Blueprints: Soviet Conspiracist Antizionism in Contemporary Left-Wing Discourse
- Durban Antizionism: Its Sources, Its Impact, and Its Relation to Older Anti-Jewish Ideologies
- GENERAL ARTICLES
- The Generalised Antisemitism (GeAs) Scale: A Questionnaire Instrument for Measuring Antisemitism as Expressed in Relation Both to Jews and to Israel
- How Users of British Media Websites Make a Bogeyman of George Soros
- Surging, Stable, or Subdued: The Jewish Perception of Antisemitism in Canada’s Southernmost Region
- Does Academic Freedom Protect Antisemitism?—Part II: Social Media, Antizionism, and the End of Academic Freedom
- Gab as Disseminator of Antisemitic Conspiracy Myths and Enabler of Offline Violence
- The Mainstreaming of American Antisemitism: The Defeat of an Ideal
- RESEARCH NOTE
- The Decoding Antisemitism Project—Reflections, Methods, and Goals
- IN MEMORIAM: PETE NEWBON, 1983–2022
- In Memory of Pete Newbon
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Key Concepts in the Study of Antisemitism. Edited by Sol Goldberg, Scott Ury, and Kalman Weiser. London: Palgrave, 2021. 354 pages. $29.99.
- Why Do People Discriminate against Jews?
- The Holocaust and North Africa
- Looking for an Enemy: 8 Essays on Antisemitism
- Israel Denial: Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism, and the Faculty Campaign against the Jewish State
