Affective Publics

1.
Affec&ve
Publics:
Affec&ve
News
Streams
and
News
Storytelling
on
Twi<er
Zizi
Papacharissi,
PhD
Professor
and
Head,
Communica&on,
University
of
Illinois-­‐Chicago
@zizip
Papacharissi, Z. & Oliveira, de Fatima M. (2012). Affective News and Networked Publics: The Rhythms of News
Storytelling on #Egypt. Journal of Communication.
Meraz, S. & Papacharissi, Z. (2013). Broadcasting and Listening Practices on #egypt: Networked Gatekeeping
and Networked Framing. International Journal of Press and Politics
Papacharissi, Z. & Meraz, S. (2013).The Rhythms of Occupy: Broadcasting and Listening Practices on #ows
Meraz, S. & Papacharissi, Z. (2012). Networked framing and gatekeeping on #ows – forthcoming
Papacharissi, Z. (2014). Affective Publics. Oxford University Press.

2. premise
• Twi<er
and
news
storytelling
• Collec&vely
prodused
news
feeds
and
the
news
economy
• Twi<er
as
alterna&ve/
primary
channel
for
informa&on
• Twi<er
as
news
repor&ng
mechanism
– Established
news
values
guide
use
of
Twi<er
– News
breaking/premedia&on/
instantaneity
– Homophily,
peripheral
awareness
and
ambient
news
environments,
hybridity
• Twi<er
as
news
sharing
mechanism
during
uprisings
– Electronic
word
of
mouth
– Broadcas&ng
and
‘listening
in’
on
uprisings
– Homophily
and
group
iden&ty

3. News
values
and
the
form
of
news
on
#egypt
• News
values
• The
form
of
news
as
specific
to
socio-­‐cultural
context
RQ1:
What
news
values
were
prevalent
in
the
Twi<er
news
streams
capturing
the
events
of
the
2011
Egyp&an
uprising?
RQ2:
What
form
did
news
storytelling
on
Twi<er
take
during
the
recent
2011
Egyp&an
uprising?
METHOD:
Frequency
analysis
(
R
),
1.5
million
mul&lingual
tweets,
computerized
content
analysis
(seman&c,
addressivity
markers,
flow),
discourse
analysis
#egypt

4. [news
values]
• News
values
priori&se
stories
about
events
that
are
recent,
sudden,
unambiguous,
predictable,
relevant
and
close
(to
the
relevant
culture/class/loca&on).
• Priority
is
given
to
stories
about
the
economy,
government
poli&cs,
industry
and
business,
foreign
affairs
and
domes&c
affairs-­‐either
of
conflict
or
human
interest-­‐
disasters
and
sport.
• Priority
is
given
to
elite
na&ons
(the
US,
the
UK,
Europe,
etc.)
and
elite
people.
• News
values
ofen
involve
appeals
to
dominant
ideologies
and
discourses.
What
is
cultural
and/or
historical
will
be
presented
as
natural
and
consensual.
• News
stories
need
to
appeal
to
readers/viewers
so
they
must
be
commonsensical,
entertaining
and
drama&c
(like
fic&on),
and
visual
(Hartley,
2002,
p.
166).
News
values
turn
events
into
stories

5. Hybridity
of
old
+
new
news
values
Old
values
Large
scale
of
events,
closeness
to
home,
clarity
of
meaning,
short
&me
scale,
relevance,
consonance,
personifica&on,
significance,
drama,
ac&on
+++
it’s
all
there,
except
nega&vity
Remedia-ons
and/or
new
values
(drama)
of
instantaneity
Events
instantly
turn
into
stories
crowdsourced
elites
(networked
gatekeeping)
solidarity
(networked
framing)
ambience
Constancy
and
con&nuity
of
always
on
news
environment
with
a
pulse
of
its
own,
organic,
collec&ve

7. !"
#!!!!"
$!!!!"
%!!!!"
&!!!!"
'!!!!!"
'#!!!!"
'$!!!!"
'%!!!!"
'&!!!!"
'(#)(#!')"
'(#%(#!')"
'(#*(#!')"
'(#&(#!')"
'(#+(#!')"
'(,!(#!')"
'(,'(#!')"
#('(#!')"
#(#(#!')"
#(,(#!')"
#($(#!')"
#()(#!')"
#(%(#!')"
#(*(#!')"
#(&(#!')"
#(+(#!')"
#('!(#!')"
#(''(#!')"
#('#(#!')"
#(',(#!')"
#('$(#!')"
#(')(#!')"
#('%(#!')"
#('*(#!')"
#('&(#!')"
#('+(#!')"
#(#!(#!')"
#(#'(#!')"
#(##(#!')"
#(#,(#!')"
#(#$(#!')"
#(#)(#!')"
-./01"
2"
34"
567"
!"
#!!!!"
$!!!!"
%!!!!"
&!!!!"
'!!!!!"
'#!!!!"
'$!!!!"
'%!!!!"
'&!!!!"
'(#)(#!')"
'(#%(#!')"
'(#*(#!')"
'(#&(#!')"
'(#+(#!')"
'(,!(#!')"
'(,'(#!')"
#('(#!')"
#(#(#!')"
#(,(#!')"
#($(#!')"
#()(#!')"
#(%(#!')"
#(*(#!')"
#(&(#!')"
#(+(#!')"
#('!(#!')"
#(''(#!')"
#('#(#!')"
#(',(#!')"
#('$(#!')"
#(')(#!')"
#('%(#!')"
#('*(#!')"
#('&(#!')"
#('+(#!')"
#(#!(#!')"
#(#'(#!')"
#(##(#!')"
#(#,(#!')"
#(#$(#!')"
#(#)(#!')"
-./01"
2"
34"
567"

8. networked
gatekeeping:
connec&vity

10. Affec&ve-­‐resigna&on

11. Affec&ve-­‐most

12. The
Form
of
Affec&ve
News
Affect:
pre-­‐emo&ve
intensity
subjec&vely
experienced
connected
to
processes
of
premedia&on/an&cipa&on
of
events
prior
to
their
occurrence
• Rhythm
and
pace
of
storytelling
– Instant,
emo&ve,
pha&c
• Repe&&on
set
the
pace/
fueled
intensity
• Oral
and
print
cultures
of
storytelling
combine
News,
fact,
drama,
opinion,
emo&on
blend
into
one
=
affect

13. Affec&ve
news
streams
Collabora&ve
news
feeds
expose
(temporal)
incompa&bili&es
between
live
twee&ng
news
and
news
repor&ng
=
many
journalisms
Leaderless
publics/revolu&ons?
Affect
and
news
storytelling,
affect
and
mobiliza&on

14.
Networked
Gatekeeping
a
process
through
which
actors
are
crowdsourced
to
prominence
via
the
use
of
conversa&onal,
social
prac&ces
that
symbio&cally
connect
elite
and
crowd
in
the
determina&on
of
informa&on
relevancy
Networked
Framing
Process
through
which
a
par&cular
problem
defini&on,
causal
interpreta&on,
moral
evalua&on,
and/or
treatment
recommenda&on
a<ain
prominence
through
crowdsourcing
prac&ces
[affec&ve
publics]
Streams
sustain
publics
convened
around
affec&ve
commonali&es-­‐
Impact
is
symbolic,
agency
claimed
seman5c,
power
liminal.

15. ::affec&ve
publics::
• Materialize
uniquely
and
leave
dis&nct
digital
footprints
• Support
connec&ve,
yet
not
necessarily
collec&ve
ac&on
• Are
powered
by
affec&ve
statements
of
opinion,
fact,
or
a
blend
of
both,
which
in
turn
produce
ambient,
always
on
feeds
further
connec&ng
and
pluralizing
expression
in
regimes
democra&c
and
non.
• Typically
produce
disrup&ons/interrup&ons
of
dominant
poli&cal
narra&ves
by
presencing
underrepresented
viewpoints.
• Streams
sustain
publics
convened
around
affec&ve
commonali&es-­‐
Impact
is
symbolic,
agency
claimed
seman5c,
power
liminal.

16. uic.edu/~zizi
::
@zizip
::
zizi@uic.edu
thank
you!
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US
BUT
IT
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