Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk
Biographic Data
| ID | 4449064 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk |
| GIVEN NAMES | Karoline Andrea |
| FAMILY NAME | Ihlebæk |
| SIGNATURE | IHLEBÆK K A |
| AFFILIATIONS | OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3150-9005 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 152 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Does alternative news media inform or misinform voters during election campaigns?
A growing body of literature has studied the audiences and effects of alternative media use. We contribute by examining how such usage shapes political knowledge during election campaigns. Given their partisan orientation, lack of professional verification, and often provocative style, alternative media are found to produce and circulate misinformation, even as their users are often politically engaged, active news consumers. We ask whether alter…
Challengers in the journalistic field – A study of alternative media and their relations to incumbents, governance units, the state, and each other
The interaction between alternative and mainstream media is complex and often contentious. Mainstream journalists question the professionalism and political agendas of alternative media, while the latter criticize mainstream journalists for being biased and elitist. This paper investigates the positioning of alternative media in the journalistic field, both as a collective and as individual entities. Using the Strategic Action Field approach, we …
News media lobbying and the EU’s Digital Services Act: Strategies and experiences from the small non-EU state of Norway
The formation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in the European Union (EU), aiming to regulate platform power, provided a unique policy window to secure media-specific interests vis-à-vis platforms. This study investigates how Norwegian news media actors utilised the policy window. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 20 elite informants in Norway and the EU, the analysis shows how the Norwegian actors strategised to protect editorial independe…
Conceptualizations, Contentions and Systemic Conditions: A Response to Competing for Cultural Authority
Right-wing alternative media users in Scandinavia: A comparative study of ideological attitudes and (dis)trust
The emergence of right-wing alternative media has raised concerns about the diffusion of radical ideas among citizens and growing distrust in the media and public institutions. Based on representative surveys in Denmark ( n = 1,958), Norway ( n = 2,009), and Sweden ( n = 1,991), we examine what characterises right-wing alternative media users in terms of political attitudes and political, media, and social trust. The analysis reveals that right-w…
Young People and News: A Systematic Literature Review
Exploring how young people engage with, share, and are influenced by news has long captivated academic interest. It is crucial for comprehending how young people are informed and develop critical thinking skills amid evolving media landscapes, and for predicting potential impacts on the industry and democracy. Given the increasing complexity of the news field, this paper conducts a systematic literature review from 2010 to 2022, focusing on journ…
Boundary Work in the Nordic Media Model: Metajournalistic Discourse on Alternative Media in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
The increasing prominence of alternative news media has been identified as a particular challenge to contemporary established journalism, next to collapsing financial models, platform dependency, falling levels of trust and increased competition. Against this background, this study examines how news editors from 23 established news organizations in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark view the rise and role of alternative news media and thereby the bounda…
Playing the Mainstream Game. A Language-Game Analysis of “Mainstream” as a Possible Boundary Object in Journalism Studies
“Mainstream media” and “mainstream journalism” have become significant concepts in political, popular, and academic discourse in recent years. They are key in how media, communication, and journalism scholars have been, and continue to be, concerned with relational dimensions in their work. However, the meaning of the word “mainstream” is often taken for granted. How and by whom this concept is used among media, communication, and journalism scho…
Contesting the Mainstream: Towards an Audience-Centered Agenda of Alternative News Research
In order to better understand alternative news media, we need to focus more centrally on the audiences that regularly consume them. This special issue, entitled “Contesting the Mainstream: Understanding Alternative News Media,” advances such an audience turn. In the introduction, we outline how scholars have understood and characterized alternative news audiences. These have ranged from seeing them as (i) ideal participants and activists; as (ii)…
Journalism as a Strategic Action Field: How to Study Contestations and Power Dynamics between Professional Journalism and Its Challengers
This paper argues the benefits of approaching the ongoing contentions and power dynamics in journalism as a strategic action field (JSAF). This meso-level, actor-centered analytical framework offers insights into how contestations in journalism are decided by the social skills of key stakeholders. JSAF distinguishes between three types of social actors (incumbents, governance units, and challengers), enables comprehension of their position and po…
Understanding Alternative News Media and Its Contribution to Diversity
In this introduction to the special issue Contesting the Mainstream: Understanding Alternative News Media and its Contribution to Diversity, we discuss how and to what extent alternative news media contribute to news diversity. We elaborate on the concept of diversity, the democratic role of media and the normative implications of the position of alternative media in the wider media sphere. Based on the articles published in this special issue, t…
Innenfor eller utenfor? Høyrevridde alternative medier og forhandling om grenser i den journalistiske institusjonen
Høyrevridde alternative medier, som Document og Resett, har utmerket seg i den norske offentligheten gjennom markant mediekritikk og omdiskuterte redaksjonelle praksiser. I denne artikkelen undersøker vi hva som skjedde når disse aktørene søkte seg inn mot den journalistiske institusjonen gjennom medlemskap i profesjonelle presse- og bransjeforeninger. I artikkelen utforsker vi først motivene for å søke, handlinger kunne framstå som paradoksale g…
Global platforms and asymmetrical power: Industry dynamics and opportunities for policy change
Global platforms have radically changed institutional dynamics within the media industry. In this study, we explore how national media organisations manoeuvre in an increasingly uneven playing field. Combining theoretical perspectives from platform studies and the media policy field approach, we analyse how asymmetrical platform power impacts industry-policy relations in a small-nation context. We find that national players collectively frame the…
Hiding hate speech: Political moderation on Facebook
Facebook facilitates more extensive dialogue between citizens and politicians. However, communicating via Facebook has also put pressure on political actors to administrate and moderate online debates in order to deal with uncivil comments. Based on a platform analysis of Facebook’s comment moderation functions and interviews with eight political parties’ communication advisors, this study explored how political actors conduct comment moderation.…
Hostile emotions: An exploratory study of far-right online commenters and their emotional connection to traditional and alternative news media
In this article, we explore media use through the perspective of emotions. We specifically focus on a contested group of media users, namely those who engage in uncivil online behaviour and have had one or several comments deleted by moderators due to xenophobic and racist content. Our point of departure is that the informants represent a particularly engaged yet controversial audience. Based on theoretical perspectives on ‘hostile emotions’ like…
Policy windows and converging frames: A longitudinal study of digitalization and media policy change
This study analyzes how media industry players have influenced media political solutions to digitalization, using data from the daily press and policy documents in the period from 1998 to 2017 as sources. It concentrates on two specific areas of media policy: public service broadcasting (PSB) and press subsidies. Based on a media policy field approach, this study identifies key collective frames and the players that promote them, and shows how po…
Media Criticism from the Far-Right: Attacking from Many Angles
How the media fulfil their role as information providers and watchdogs concern us all. Ideally, journalism ensures that citizens are informed about important issues that are necessary to make educa
Journalism, solidarity and the civil sphere: The case of Charlie Hebdo
On 7 January 2015, Said and Chérif Kouachi assaulted the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo , leaving 12 people dead. The terrorist attack soon became a highly symbolic event, reflecting the core struggle between free speech and religious values that escalated after the ‘cartoon crisis’ in 2005. In this article, we wish to explore media discourses in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack in three European countries – Spain, …
Participatory Culture in a Networked Era
"Participatory Culture in a Networked Era." Information, Communication & Society, 21(12), pp. 1801–1802
Challenging Journalistic Authority: Media criticism in far-right alternative media
Over the last decade, a network of far-right alternative online media has emerged globally. At the same time, legacy news media have suffered a decline in trust and revenues. In this context, the present article analyses how journalistic authority is questioned and challenged in far-right alternative media, highlighting how these websites claim authority as media critics. The study rests on a qualitative analysis of 600 news articles published on…
Learning by Doing: Perspectives on social media regulations in Norwegian news organizations
This paper investigates journalistic social media use from the perspective of the media organization. Specifically, we examine how media professionals working within Norwegian news organizations perceive social media guidelines by focusing on three empirical areas—assessing perceptions of scope, form and content. Data are collected and analyzed by means of a mixed-method approach. First, we provide results from a large-scale survey of Norwegian e…
Beyond “J-Tweeters: Assessing the social media use of Norwegian journalists across multiple platforms
Based on a survey (N = 1613) directed to members of the Norwegian Journalist Association (NJ), this paper presents an extensive overview of the ways in which comparably older and newer online platforms have been incorporated into the professional lives of Norwegian journalists. While plenty of research is available that explores the uses of Twitter by journalists, the results presented here suggest that Facebook is by far the most frequently used…
Keeping Them and Moving Them: TV Scheduling in the Phase of Channel and Platform Proliferation
The article explores television scheduling in the phase of proliferation, a period following phases of monopoly and competition, characterized by a drastic multiplication of content, television channels, and new platforms. Based on interviews with professionals involved in scheduling and cross-platform promotion at Norway’s four main broadcasters, a sample study of actual cross-platform promotion, and relevant statistics for the Norwegian TV mark…
Dancing with the audience’: Administrating vote-ins in public and commercial broadcasting
Challenging Journalistic Authority: Media criticism in far-right alternative media
Over the last decade, a network of far-right alternative online media has emerged globally. At the same time, legacy news media have suffered a decline in trust and revenues. In this context, the present article analyses how journalistic authority is questioned and challenged in far-right alternative media, highlighting how these websites claim authority as media critics. The study rests on a qualitative analysis of 600 news articles published on…
Hostile emotions: An exploratory study of far-right online commenters and their emotional connection to traditional and alternative news media
In this article, we explore media use through the perspective of emotions. We specifically focus on a contested group of media users, namely those who engage in uncivil online behaviour and have had one or several comments deleted by moderators due to xenophobic and racist content. Our point of departure is that the informants represent a particularly engaged yet controversial audience. Based on theoretical perspectives on ‘hostile emotions’ like…
Keeping Them and Moving Them: TV Scheduling in the Phase of Channel and Platform Proliferation
The article explores television scheduling in the phase of proliferation, a period following phases of monopoly and competition, characterized by a drastic multiplication of content, television channels, and new platforms. Based on interviews with professionals involved in scheduling and cross-platform promotion at Norway’s four main broadcasters, a sample study of actual cross-platform promotion, and relevant statistics for the Norwegian TV mark…
Learning by Doing: Perspectives on social media regulations in Norwegian news organizations
This paper investigates journalistic social media use from the perspective of the media organization. Specifically, we examine how media professionals working within Norwegian news organizations perceive social media guidelines by focusing on three empirical areas—assessing perceptions of scope, form and content. Data are collected and analyzed by means of a mixed-method approach. First, we provide results from a large-scale survey of Norwegian e…
Journalism, solidarity and the civil sphere: The case of Charlie Hebdo
On 7 January 2015, Said and Chérif Kouachi assaulted the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo , leaving 12 people dead. The terrorist attack soon became a highly symbolic event, reflecting the core struggle between free speech and religious values that escalated after the ‘cartoon crisis’ in 2005. In this article, we wish to explore media discourses in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack in three European countries – Spain, …
Beyond “J-Tweeters: Assessing the social media use of Norwegian journalists across multiple platforms
Based on a survey (N = 1613) directed to members of the Norwegian Journalist Association (NJ), this paper presents an extensive overview of the ways in which comparably older and newer online platforms have been incorporated into the professional lives of Norwegian journalists. While plenty of research is available that explores the uses of Twitter by journalists, the results presented here suggest that Facebook is by far the most frequently used…
Media Criticism from the Far-Right: Attacking from Many Angles
How the media fulfil their role as information providers and watchdogs concern us all. Ideally, journalism ensures that citizens are informed about important issues that are necessary to make educa
Global platforms and asymmetrical power: Industry dynamics and opportunities for policy change
Global platforms have radically changed institutional dynamics within the media industry. In this study, we explore how national media organisations manoeuvre in an increasingly uneven playing field. Combining theoretical perspectives from platform studies and the media policy field approach, we analyse how asymmetrical platform power impacts industry-policy relations in a small-nation context. We find that national players collectively frame the…
Boundary Work in the Nordic Media Model: Metajournalistic Discourse on Alternative Media in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
The increasing prominence of alternative news media has been identified as a particular challenge to contemporary established journalism, next to collapsing financial models, platform dependency, falling levels of trust and increased competition. Against this background, this study examines how news editors from 23 established news organizations in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark view the rise and role of alternative news media and thereby the bounda…
Journalism as a Strategic Action Field: How to Study Contestations and Power Dynamics between Professional Journalism and Its Challengers
This paper argues the benefits of approaching the ongoing contentions and power dynamics in journalism as a strategic action field (JSAF). This meso-level, actor-centered analytical framework offers insights into how contestations in journalism are decided by the social skills of key stakeholders. JSAF distinguishes between three types of social actors (incumbents, governance units, and challengers), enables comprehension of their position and po…
Young People and News: A Systematic Literature Review
Exploring how young people engage with, share, and are influenced by news has long captivated academic interest. It is crucial for comprehending how young people are informed and develop critical thinking skills amid evolving media landscapes, and for predicting potential impacts on the industry and democracy. Given the increasing complexity of the news field, this paper conducts a systematic literature review from 2010 to 2022, focusing on journ…
Dancing with the audience’: Administrating vote-ins in public and commercial broadcasting
Policy windows and converging frames: A longitudinal study of digitalization and media policy change
This study analyzes how media industry players have influenced media political solutions to digitalization, using data from the daily press and policy documents in the period from 1998 to 2017 as sources. It concentrates on two specific areas of media policy: public service broadcasting (PSB) and press subsidies. Based on a media policy field approach, this study identifies key collective frames and the players that promote them, and shows how po…
Innenfor eller utenfor? Høyrevridde alternative medier og forhandling om grenser i den journalistiske institusjonen
Høyrevridde alternative medier, som Document og Resett, har utmerket seg i den norske offentligheten gjennom markant mediekritikk og omdiskuterte redaksjonelle praksiser. I denne artikkelen undersøker vi hva som skjedde når disse aktørene søkte seg inn mot den journalistiske institusjonen gjennom medlemskap i profesjonelle presse- og bransjeforeninger. I artikkelen utforsker vi først motivene for å søke, handlinger kunne framstå som paradoksale g…
Hiding hate speech: Political moderation on Facebook
Facebook facilitates more extensive dialogue between citizens and politicians. However, communicating via Facebook has also put pressure on political actors to administrate and moderate online debates in order to deal with uncivil comments. Based on a platform analysis of Facebook’s comment moderation functions and interviews with eight political parties’ communication advisors, this study explored how political actors conduct comment moderation.…
Dancing with the audience’: Administrating vote-ins in public and commercial broadcasting
Keeping Them and Moving Them: TV Scheduling in the Phase of Channel and Platform Proliferation
The article explores television scheduling in the phase of proliferation, a period following phases of monopoly and competition, characterized by a drastic multiplication of content, television channels, and new platforms. Based on interviews with professionals involved in scheduling and cross-platform promotion at Norway’s four main broadcasters, a sample study of actual cross-platform promotion, and relevant statistics for the Norwegian TV mark…
Learning by Doing: Perspectives on social media regulations in Norwegian news organizations
This paper investigates journalistic social media use from the perspective of the media organization. Specifically, we examine how media professionals working within Norwegian news organizations perceive social media guidelines by focusing on three empirical areas—assessing perceptions of scope, form and content. Data are collected and analyzed by means of a mixed-method approach. First, we provide results from a large-scale survey of Norwegian e…
Beyond “J-Tweeters: Assessing the social media use of Norwegian journalists across multiple platforms
Based on a survey (N = 1613) directed to members of the Norwegian Journalist Association (NJ), this paper presents an extensive overview of the ways in which comparably older and newer online platforms have been incorporated into the professional lives of Norwegian journalists. While plenty of research is available that explores the uses of Twitter by journalists, the results presented here suggest that Facebook is by far the most frequently used…
Participatory Culture in a Networked Era
"Participatory Culture in a Networked Era." Information, Communication & Society, 21(12), pp. 1801–1802
Challenging Journalistic Authority: Media criticism in far-right alternative media
Over the last decade, a network of far-right alternative online media has emerged globally. At the same time, legacy news media have suffered a decline in trust and revenues. In this context, the present article analyses how journalistic authority is questioned and challenged in far-right alternative media, highlighting how these websites claim authority as media critics. The study rests on a qualitative analysis of 600 news articles published on…
Media Criticism from the Far-Right: Attacking from Many Angles
How the media fulfil their role as information providers and watchdogs concern us all. Ideally, journalism ensures that citizens are informed about important issues that are necessary to make educa
Journalism, solidarity and the civil sphere: The case of Charlie Hebdo
On 7 January 2015, Said and Chérif Kouachi assaulted the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo , leaving 12 people dead. The terrorist attack soon became a highly symbolic event, reflecting the core struggle between free speech and religious values that escalated after the ‘cartoon crisis’ in 2005. In this article, we wish to explore media discourses in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack in three European countries – Spain, …
Policy windows and converging frames: A longitudinal study of digitalization and media policy change
This study analyzes how media industry players have influenced media political solutions to digitalization, using data from the daily press and policy documents in the period from 1998 to 2017 as sources. It concentrates on two specific areas of media policy: public service broadcasting (PSB) and press subsidies. Based on a media policy field approach, this study identifies key collective frames and the players that promote them, and shows how po…
Global platforms and asymmetrical power: Industry dynamics and opportunities for policy change
Global platforms have radically changed institutional dynamics within the media industry. In this study, we explore how national media organisations manoeuvre in an increasingly uneven playing field. Combining theoretical perspectives from platform studies and the media policy field approach, we analyse how asymmetrical platform power impacts industry-policy relations in a small-nation context. We find that national players collectively frame the…
Hiding hate speech: Political moderation on Facebook
Facebook facilitates more extensive dialogue between citizens and politicians. However, communicating via Facebook has also put pressure on political actors to administrate and moderate online debates in order to deal with uncivil comments. Based on a platform analysis of Facebook’s comment moderation functions and interviews with eight political parties’ communication advisors, this study explored how political actors conduct comment moderation.…
Hostile emotions: An exploratory study of far-right online commenters and their emotional connection to traditional and alternative news media
In this article, we explore media use through the perspective of emotions. We specifically focus on a contested group of media users, namely those who engage in uncivil online behaviour and have had one or several comments deleted by moderators due to xenophobic and racist content. Our point of departure is that the informants represent a particularly engaged yet controversial audience. Based on theoretical perspectives on ‘hostile emotions’ like…
Understanding Alternative News Media and Its Contribution to Diversity
In this introduction to the special issue Contesting the Mainstream: Understanding Alternative News Media and its Contribution to Diversity, we discuss how and to what extent alternative news media contribute to news diversity. We elaborate on the concept of diversity, the democratic role of media and the normative implications of the position of alternative media in the wider media sphere. Based on the articles published in this special issue, t…
Innenfor eller utenfor? Høyrevridde alternative medier og forhandling om grenser i den journalistiske institusjonen
Høyrevridde alternative medier, som Document og Resett, har utmerket seg i den norske offentligheten gjennom markant mediekritikk og omdiskuterte redaksjonelle praksiser. I denne artikkelen undersøker vi hva som skjedde når disse aktørene søkte seg inn mot den journalistiske institusjonen gjennom medlemskap i profesjonelle presse- og bransjeforeninger. I artikkelen utforsker vi først motivene for å søke, handlinger kunne framstå som paradoksale g…
Playing the Mainstream Game. A Language-Game Analysis of “Mainstream” as a Possible Boundary Object in Journalism Studies
“Mainstream media” and “mainstream journalism” have become significant concepts in political, popular, and academic discourse in recent years. They are key in how media, communication, and journalism scholars have been, and continue to be, concerned with relational dimensions in their work. However, the meaning of the word “mainstream” is often taken for granted. How and by whom this concept is used among media, communication, and journalism scho…
Contesting the Mainstream: Towards an Audience-Centered Agenda of Alternative News Research
In order to better understand alternative news media, we need to focus more centrally on the audiences that regularly consume them. This special issue, entitled “Contesting the Mainstream: Understanding Alternative News Media,” advances such an audience turn. In the introduction, we outline how scholars have understood and characterized alternative news audiences. These have ranged from seeing them as (i) ideal participants and activists; as (ii)…
Journalism as a Strategic Action Field: How to Study Contestations and Power Dynamics between Professional Journalism and Its Challengers
This paper argues the benefits of approaching the ongoing contentions and power dynamics in journalism as a strategic action field (JSAF). This meso-level, actor-centered analytical framework offers insights into how contestations in journalism are decided by the social skills of key stakeholders. JSAF distinguishes between three types of social actors (incumbents, governance units, and challengers), enables comprehension of their position and po…
Young People and News: A Systematic Literature Review
Exploring how young people engage with, share, and are influenced by news has long captivated academic interest. It is crucial for comprehending how young people are informed and develop critical thinking skills amid evolving media landscapes, and for predicting potential impacts on the industry and democracy. Given the increasing complexity of the news field, this paper conducts a systematic literature review from 2010 to 2022, focusing on journ…
Boundary Work in the Nordic Media Model: Metajournalistic Discourse on Alternative Media in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden
The increasing prominence of alternative news media has been identified as a particular challenge to contemporary established journalism, next to collapsing financial models, platform dependency, falling levels of trust and increased competition. Against this background, this study examines how news editors from 23 established news organizations in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark view the rise and role of alternative news media and thereby the bounda…
Conceptualizations, Contentions and Systemic Conditions: A Response to Competing for Cultural Authority
Right-wing alternative media users in Scandinavia: A comparative study of ideological attitudes and (dis)trust
The emergence of right-wing alternative media has raised concerns about the diffusion of radical ideas among citizens and growing distrust in the media and public institutions. Based on representative surveys in Denmark ( n = 1,958), Norway ( n = 2,009), and Sweden ( n = 1,991), we examine what characterises right-wing alternative media users in terms of political attitudes and political, media, and social trust. The analysis reveals that right-w…
Does alternative news media inform or misinform voters during election campaigns?
A growing body of literature has studied the audiences and effects of alternative media use. We contribute by examining how such usage shapes political knowledge during election campaigns. Given their partisan orientation, lack of professional verification, and often provocative style, alternative media are found to produce and circulate misinformation, even as their users are often politically engaged, active news consumers. We ask whether alter…
Challengers in the journalistic field – A study of alternative media and their relations to incumbents, governance units, the state, and each other
The interaction between alternative and mainstream media is complex and often contentious. Mainstream journalists question the professionalism and political agendas of alternative media, while the latter criticize mainstream journalists for being biased and elitist. This paper investigates the positioning of alternative media in the journalistic field, both as a collective and as individual entities. Using the Strategic Action Field approach, we …
News media lobbying and the EU’s Digital Services Act: Strategies and experiences from the small non-EU state of Norway
The formation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in the European Union (EU), aiming to regulate platform power, provided a unique policy window to secure media-specific interests vis-à-vis platforms. This study investigates how Norwegian news media actors utilised the policy window. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 20 elite informants in Norway and the EU, the analysis shows how the Norwegian actors strategised to protect editorial independe…
Political science (21 works) · Media Studies and Communication (19 works) · Social Media and Politics (17 works) · Public relations (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Politics (13 works) · Media studies (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Business (9 works) · Computer Science (9 works)