Katja Valaskivi | University of Helsinki (original) (raw)
Papers by Katja Valaskivi
Journalism, 2021
In this article, we investigate the challenge of hybrid media events of terrorist violence for jo... more In this article, we investigate the challenge of hybrid media events of terrorist violence for journalism and analyse how news organizations manage epistemic modes in such events. Epistemic modes refer to different ways of knowing, which are managed by newsrooms through journalistic and editorial practices. We draw from an empirical study of terrorism-related news production in the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). Our data consist of thematic interviews ( N = 33) with Yle journalists, producers, and content managers and newsroom observations (14 days) conducted at Yle. The study investigates the data through a grounded theory approach with the aim of creating a theoretical understanding of knowledge production in hybrid media events. The results are drawn from a qualitative content analysis and close reading of the interview data, with the other data sets informing the core analysis. The article identifies seven epistemic modes of relevance to news production in hybrid media even...
First Monday
The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been... more The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been observed. While recent research indicates that events may lead to more hate speech, empirical evidence on the phenomenon remains limited. This study analyzes 4chan /pol/ user activity during the mass shootings in Christchurch and Pittsburgh and compares the frequency and nature of user activity prior to these events. We find not only a surge in the use of hate speech and anti-Semitism but also increased circulation of duplicate messages, links, and images and an overall increase in messages from users who self-identify as “white supremacist” or “fascist” primarily voiced from English-speaking IP-based locations: the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Great Britain. Finally, we show how these hybrid media events share the arena with other prominent events involving different agendas, such as the U.S. midterm elections. The significant increase in duplicates during the hybrid media events in th...
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raisi... more This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raising the question of how social media activity constructs social distance, and in so doing conditions the dynamics of public discourse. By applying co-retweeted network analysis of retweeting in Japan during three consecutive years, the chapter shows how the ambient sense of community in Twitter feeds about Fukushima moved from an early ‘disaster utopia’ to a more acute political polarization that in the context of national nuclear politics is articulated as a core theme. Polarization of discussions in the aftermath of Fukushima, the general political landscape and the increasingly strategic use of social media lead to a mediated social geography where it is difficult for science and journalism to play a constructive role.
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inhe... more This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inherited social and journalistic structures that anchor news coverage to a particular place, to an assumed audience and thus to specific affective dynamics and identities representation. Empirically, this chapter focuses on four levels of mainstream newspaper coverage—the local, the regional, the national and the international—and tracks how the image and meanings related of the disaster was re-negotiated over time, during five years after the event. By applying a computer-assisted modelling and quantitative text analysis of the key vocabularies of journalism at different levels, it highlights the way that mainstream media function as differentiated affective platforms that emphasize alternative sensibilities.
Hybrid Media Events, 2018
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter examines the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster through circulation of affect in a h... more This chapter examines the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster through circulation of affect in a hybrid media environment. Using the news coverage of potassium iodide tablet buying sprees in the Northern Hemisphere in March 2011 as its case study, this chapter examines how affect sticks and circulates in the news coverage, as areas outside Japan anticipated and speculated about the possible nuclear fallout from Fukushima Daiichi. The chapter introduces the notion of affective discipline and uses it to illustrate how distinct cultural tropes are used to manage circulation of affect during a crisis. Moreover, this chapter suggests that acts of affective discipline render visible the dual role of the public in crisis reporting: represented as panicky but addressed as rational.
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
In this concluding chapter, we revisit the beginnings of our book and discuss the main findings o... more In this concluding chapter, we revisit the beginnings of our book and discuss the main findings of our project. The case studies presented herein are a unique combination of wide-ranging data from different sources, the innovative use of computational and qualitative methods and ambitious theoretical cross-pollination. This multifaceted approach has allowed us to address the hybrid logics of the circulation of meanings and emotions in the contemporary media environment over time. Moreover, our enquiries have made visible how mediated communication and affect are used by societies to maintain the status quo after traumatic, disruptive events. The findings provide new insight into disruptive events in the global hybrid media environment and into the way they are influenced by the factors of time, space and emotion.
First Monday
The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been... more The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been observed. While recent research indicates that events may lead to more hate speech, empirical evidence on the phenomenon remains limited. This study analyzes 4chan /pol/ user activity during the mass shootings in Christchurch and Pittsburgh and compares the frequency and nature of user activity prior to these events. We find not only a surge in the use of hate speech and anti-Semitism but also increased circulation of duplicate messages, links, and images and an overall increase in messages from users who self-identify as “white supremacist” or “fascist” primarily voiced from English-speaking IP-based locations: the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Great Britain. Finally, we show how these hybrid media events share the arena with other prominent events involving different agendas, such as the U.S. midterm elections. The significant increase in duplicates during the hybrid media events in th...
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raisi... more This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raising the question of how social media activity constructs social distance, and in so doing conditions the dynamics of public discourse. By applying co-retweeted network analysis of retweeting in Japan during three consecutive years, the chapter shows how the ambient sense of community in Twitter feeds about Fukushima moved from an early ‘disaster utopia’ to a more acute political polarization that in the context of national nuclear politics is articulated as a core theme. Polarization of discussions in the aftermath of Fukushima, the general political landscape and the increasingly strategic use of social media lead to a mediated social geography where it is difficult for science and journalism to play a constructive role.
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inhe... more This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inherited social and journalistic structures that anchor news coverage to a particular place, to an assumed audience and thus to specific affective dynamics and identities representation. Empirically, this chapter focuses on four levels of mainstream newspaper coverage—the local, the regional, the national and the international—and tracks how the image and meanings related of the disaster was re-negotiated over time, during five years after the event. By applying a computer-assisted modelling and quantitative text analysis of the key vocabularies of journalism at different levels, it highlights the way that mainstream media function as differentiated affective platforms that emphasize alternative sensibilities.
Hybrid Media Events, 2018
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
Journalism, 2021
In this article, we investigate the challenge of hybrid media events of terrorist violence for jo... more In this article, we investigate the challenge of hybrid media events of terrorist violence for journalism and analyse how news organizations manage epistemic modes in such events. Epistemic modes refer to different ways of knowing, which are managed by newsrooms through journalistic and editorial practices. We draw from an empirical study of terrorism-related news production in the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). Our data consist of thematic interviews ( N = 33) with Yle journalists, producers, and content managers and newsroom observations (14 days) conducted at Yle. The study investigates the data through a grounded theory approach with the aim of creating a theoretical understanding of knowledge production in hybrid media events. The results are drawn from a qualitative content analysis and close reading of the interview data, with the other data sets informing the core analysis. The article identifies seven epistemic modes of relevance to news production in hybrid media even...
First Monday
The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been... more The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been observed. While recent research indicates that events may lead to more hate speech, empirical evidence on the phenomenon remains limited. This study analyzes 4chan /pol/ user activity during the mass shootings in Christchurch and Pittsburgh and compares the frequency and nature of user activity prior to these events. We find not only a surge in the use of hate speech and anti-Semitism but also increased circulation of duplicate messages, links, and images and an overall increase in messages from users who self-identify as “white supremacist” or “fascist” primarily voiced from English-speaking IP-based locations: the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Great Britain. Finally, we show how these hybrid media events share the arena with other prominent events involving different agendas, such as the U.S. midterm elections. The significant increase in duplicates during the hybrid media events in th...
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raisi... more This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raising the question of how social media activity constructs social distance, and in so doing conditions the dynamics of public discourse. By applying co-retweeted network analysis of retweeting in Japan during three consecutive years, the chapter shows how the ambient sense of community in Twitter feeds about Fukushima moved from an early ‘disaster utopia’ to a more acute political polarization that in the context of national nuclear politics is articulated as a core theme. Polarization of discussions in the aftermath of Fukushima, the general political landscape and the increasingly strategic use of social media lead to a mediated social geography where it is difficult for science and journalism to play a constructive role.
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inhe... more This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inherited social and journalistic structures that anchor news coverage to a particular place, to an assumed audience and thus to specific affective dynamics and identities representation. Empirically, this chapter focuses on four levels of mainstream newspaper coverage—the local, the regional, the national and the international—and tracks how the image and meanings related of the disaster was re-negotiated over time, during five years after the event. By applying a computer-assisted modelling and quantitative text analysis of the key vocabularies of journalism at different levels, it highlights the way that mainstream media function as differentiated affective platforms that emphasize alternative sensibilities.
Hybrid Media Events, 2018
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter examines the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster through circulation of affect in a h... more This chapter examines the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster through circulation of affect in a hybrid media environment. Using the news coverage of potassium iodide tablet buying sprees in the Northern Hemisphere in March 2011 as its case study, this chapter examines how affect sticks and circulates in the news coverage, as areas outside Japan anticipated and speculated about the possible nuclear fallout from Fukushima Daiichi. The chapter introduces the notion of affective discipline and uses it to illustrate how distinct cultural tropes are used to manage circulation of affect during a crisis. Moreover, this chapter suggests that acts of affective discipline render visible the dual role of the public in crisis reporting: represented as panicky but addressed as rational.
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
In this concluding chapter, we revisit the beginnings of our book and discuss the main findings o... more In this concluding chapter, we revisit the beginnings of our book and discuss the main findings of our project. The case studies presented herein are a unique combination of wide-ranging data from different sources, the innovative use of computational and qualitative methods and ambitious theoretical cross-pollination. This multifaceted approach has allowed us to address the hybrid logics of the circulation of meanings and emotions in the contemporary media environment over time. Moreover, our enquiries have made visible how mediated communication and affect are used by societies to maintain the status quo after traumatic, disruptive events. The findings provide new insight into disruptive events in the global hybrid media environment and into the way they are influenced by the factors of time, space and emotion.
First Monday
The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been... more The 4chan /pol/ platform is a controversial online space on which a surge in hate speech has been observed. While recent research indicates that events may lead to more hate speech, empirical evidence on the phenomenon remains limited. This study analyzes 4chan /pol/ user activity during the mass shootings in Christchurch and Pittsburgh and compares the frequency and nature of user activity prior to these events. We find not only a surge in the use of hate speech and anti-Semitism but also increased circulation of duplicate messages, links, and images and an overall increase in messages from users who self-identify as “white supremacist” or “fascist” primarily voiced from English-speaking IP-based locations: the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Great Britain. Finally, we show how these hybrid media events share the arena with other prominent events involving different agendas, such as the U.S. midterm elections. The significant increase in duplicates during the hybrid media events in th...
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raisi... more This chapter looks at the Fukushima disaster as a media event from a spatial perspective by raising the question of how social media activity constructs social distance, and in so doing conditions the dynamics of public discourse. By applying co-retweeted network analysis of retweeting in Japan during three consecutive years, the chapter shows how the ambient sense of community in Twitter feeds about Fukushima moved from an early ‘disaster utopia’ to a more acute political polarization that in the context of national nuclear politics is articulated as a core theme. Polarization of discussions in the aftermath of Fukushima, the general political landscape and the increasingly strategic use of social media lead to a mediated social geography where it is difficult for science and journalism to play a constructive role.
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inhe... more This chapter looks at the tension between the assumed tendencies of journalism and the deep, inherited social and journalistic structures that anchor news coverage to a particular place, to an assumed audience and thus to specific affective dynamics and identities representation. Empirically, this chapter focuses on four levels of mainstream newspaper coverage—the local, the regional, the national and the international—and tracks how the image and meanings related of the disaster was re-negotiated over time, during five years after the event. By applying a computer-assisted modelling and quantitative text analysis of the key vocabularies of journalism at different levels, it highlights the way that mainstream media function as differentiated affective platforms that emphasize alternative sensibilities.
Hybrid Media Events, 2018
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
Traces of Fukushima, 2019
Nation branding is the most recent feature of imagined nation-making in the history of nations. F... more Nation branding is the most recent feature of imagined nation-making in the history of nations. Facing global competition, national decision-makers aim to distinguish their countries from others by means of branding. Quite a few nations have considered the term ‘cool’ suitable for describing some essence of their country’s brand.
Cool Nations. Media and the Social Imaginary of the Branded Country traces the mediated ways in which the transnational idea of "cool" has circulated from popular culture, fashion, and marketing into describing nations. The book explores the commodification of the nation, the shift to a promotional political culture, and the role of media in contributing to the circulation of the idea of the Cool Nation.
The social imaginary of nation branding takes its theory and practices from marketing, unlike earlier imaginations based on ideas of democracy or citizenship. Cool Nations argues that "cool" is one of the vehicles through which the commodification of nations takes place.
Chapter in "Media Events A Critical Contemporary Approach Editors: Mitu, Bianca, Poulakidakos, St... more Chapter in "Media Events A Critical Contemporary Approach
Editors: Mitu, Bianca, Poulakidakos, Stamatis, 2016
ABSTRACT (Pre-copy-edited)
Unforeseen riots against the presidential festivities of Finnish Independence Day took place in the city of Tampere, Finland, on the 6th of December 2013. The riots triggered a medley of news coverage, analysis and social media commentary. The rioters called themselves "Kiakkovieraat", a pun allowing the double meaning of Hockey guests or Gate crashers. They wore facemasks of famous Finnish hockey players and used hockey sticks to smash windows and hit policemen and police horses.
The chapter describes and analyses the interrelations of user created content and mainstream media coverage of the widely reported Gate crashers media event. As a media event the case was at the same time national and internationally networked.
The empirical data of the case study consists of material on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and mainstream media outlets during and in the immediate aftermath of the event. In addition, to map the background for emergence and circulation of messages we explored extensively the counter-culture blogosphere linked to the organizers of the event.
The case is studied from three interrelated perspectives: Firstly, from the point of view of global media events (cf. Dayan & Katz 1994; Couldry, Hepp & Krotz 2010; Eide & Kunelius 2012); secondly from the point of view of understanding the circulation of meanings and ideas between SNS and mainstream media in a media event where a strong subculture consciously attempts to penetrate into mainstream publicity (cf. Campbell and La Pastina 2010; Sumiala and Tikka 2011b; Valaskivi 2012; Aronczyk 2013; Kantola 2013); and finally, we look into the agendas set by the social media and the mainstream media and their interrelationship in circulation (cf. McCombs 2004, McCombs and Shaw 1972).
By tracing the unfolding of the media event, we study the dynamic space between activists communicating mainly within their own circle of publicity and the so called mainstream media, and look into 1) the actors and their roles in circulation and agenda setting on both sides 2) the IRL and virtual places and spaces involved in the circulation 3) the meanings and ideas circulated (or those whose circulation is limited) within the media event.
Combining the theoretical perspectives of circulation and agenda setting, we argue that:
User created content can influence the agenda of “mainstream media” news coverage of a media event, and change the agenda of coverage even in real-time. From agenda setting point of view, this real time influence, which in our case included journalists criticizing each other’s news agenda on Twitter as the events were breaking, is something new.
User created content, blogs in particular, can function as internationally networked breeding and testing grounds – or “virtual think tanks” – for ideas that circulate into mainstream media through coverage of a media event.
Mainstream media can function as interceptors in circulation of themes, arguments and rhetorical styles present in UCG, thus using their agenda setting power to stifle debate on certain perspectives of the event.
In the aftermath of an event, internationally circulated content can have a second life in ad-hoc blog commentary and analysis, providing perspectives more historically reflective, politically contextualized and emotionally laden than in mainstream media coverage.
Japanilaisen populaarikulttuurin leviäminen on globaali ilmiö. Suomeen ilmiö levisi suhteellisen... more Japanilaisen populaarikulttuurin leviäminen on globaali ilmiö. Suomeen ilmiö levisi suhteellisen myöhään, mutta alle kymmenessä vuodessa esim. mangasta, animesta ja cosplaysta on tullut näkyviä ja kymmeniä tuhansia harrastajia kiinnostavia harrastuksia. Pokemonin perilliset kertoo japanilaisen populaarikulttuurin harrastuskentästä ja markkinoista sekä näiden kytköksistä globaaliin ilmiöön.
Media & viestintä, 2013
Uskonnon ja median tutkimuksen alueella on puhuttu viime vuosina paljon uskonnon aiempaa voimakka... more Uskonnon ja median tutkimuksen alueella on puhuttu viime vuosina paljon uskonnon aiempaa voimakkaammasta näkyvyydestä länsimaisessa uutismediassa. Erityisesti New Yorkin terrori-iskujen syyskuussa 2001 on katsottu vaikuttaneen siihen, että journalismissa on alettu uudella tavalla kiinnittää huomiota uskontoon. Uskontoon kohdistuvan mediahuomion määrä näyttääkin kasvaneen, mutta selvittämättä on, mistä tarkalleen puhutaan, kun puhutaan uskonnosta journalismissa. Artikkelissa tarkastelemme määrällisesti suomalaista uskontoa koskevaa journalistista kirjoittelua viiden vuoden ajalta neljän sanomalehden osalta. Aineistomme osoittaa, että suomalaisen journalismin tuottama uskonnollinen maisema rakentuu hyvin erillisistä osasista. Lehtien osastot ja journalismin käytännöt tuottavat jaon, joissa paikalliset, valtakunnalliset ja globaalit uskontoa koskevat aiheet pidetään tiukasti erillään. Artikkelin lopussa pohdimme, millainen suhde lehtien tuottamalla uskonnollisella maisemalla on suomala...
Journal of Religion in Europe, 2018
In this article, we examine religion in the news media by applying a spatial approach. Our conten... more In this article, we examine religion in the news media by applying a spatial approach. Our content analysis of journalistic reporting on religion is based on a study of four Finnish newspapers over a five-year period. The data shows that the space of religion in the Finnish newspapers comprises complex dynamics connected with place, embedded in journalistic conventions and practices. Journalistic practices and the segmentation into newspaper sections result in a strict separation among local, national, and global themes related to religion, consequently erecting boundaries between inclusion and exclusion, proximity and distance, and centre and periphery associated with the religion in question. We conclude with a reflection on the politics of space and its significance in positioning religion not only in the studied newspapers but also in Finnish society and in Europe at large.