Challenges of the “New Hybrid Ecosystem”

Celebrities, Fake News and Covid-19

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21816630
AutoresZdenko Zeman (0000-0002-3005-0995, Institut Društvenih Znanosti Ivo Pilar), Marija Geiger Zeman (0000-0002-1192-4722, Institut Društvenih Znanosti Ivo Pilar), Martina Topić (0000-0002-5894-2979, Leeds Beckett University)
Ano2022
Volume11
Fascículo20
Páginas3243-3267
Data de publicação2022-05-26
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoIn medias res (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1848-6304 • E-ISSN: 2786-152X
EditoraCenter for Philosophy of Media and Media Research (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.46640/imr.11.20.1
OpenAlexW4281990084
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas13

The complex intertwining of mainstream and social media has resulted in the creation of a “new hybrid ecosystem” in which consumers are primarily engaged with ideas and news posted on social media, that are then transmitted as news in mainstream media (Wheeler 2018). In this new “hyper-connected environment” (Pepper 2018), “fake news” occupies a specific position. The concept of “fake news” is very complex, contradictory and ambivalent because it appears as an umbrella term covering various phenomena and different practices of which some are already known, while others are fairly new (Molina et al. 2021). The new communication environment and the role of fake news as part of it, may also be analysed through the celebrity phenomenon. This paper uses the method of discourse analysis to examine texts on various statements by celebrities about COVID-19, published on two web portals in Croatia (index.hr, 24sata.hr). It becomes clear that celebrities function as very potent sharers of fake news, since consumers of online content give great weight to their actions and statements. On the other hand, mainstream media often act as a corrective to social media, in their efforts to convincingly deny fake news and the celebrities that share them on social media

Advertising · Ambivalence · Business · Fake news · Internet privacy · Mainstream · Media studies · Political science · Social media · Sociology · Computer Science · Law · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Social Psychology · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Russia