Journalistic Tactic and Intercultural Deficit: Post-publication Audience Engagement in a Finnish News Case Study
Abstract
This study examines audience interaction under a Finnish news article on Facebook, scrutinizing the influence of clickbait headlines and their contribution to Intercultural divisions. Utilizing positioning theory and the concept of ‘othering,’ the research enriches our comprehension of media framing, post-publication gatekeeping, and audience conduct in the digital realm. The comment analysis indicates that the audience primarily reacts to the headline, positioning in regard to the incident, often employing sarcasm and emojis to underscore their points. The media entity abstains from participating in post-publication conversation. The study accentuates additional significant insights and scrutinizes the scant presence of rational–critical reasoning, proposing strategies for its augmentation on digital platforms. By examining these dynamics within the digital milieu, the research offers a more layered portrayal of the perceived ‘other’ and addresses detrimental positioning.
Full text article
References
Abdelkader, E. (2017). Comparative analysis of European Islamophobia: France, UK, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden. UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law, 16, 29–64. https://doi.org/10.5070/N4161038735
Aktürk, Ş., & Katliarou, Y. (2021). Institutionalization of ethnocultural diversity and the representation of European Muslims. Perspectives on Politics, 19(2), 388-405. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592720001334
Albadi, N., Kurdi, M., & Mishra, S. (2018). Are they our brothers? Analysis and detection of religious hate speech in the Arabic Twittersphere. 2018 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM). https://doi.org/10.1109/ASONAM.2018.8508247
Arendt, F. (2023). Media stereotypes, prejudice, and preference-based reinforcement: Toward the dynamic of self-reinforcing effects by integrating audience selectivity. Journal of Communication, 73(5), 463–475. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqad019
Aviation Safety Network. (n.d.). Accident description: KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736. Retrieved January 7, 2025, from https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19770327-0
Awan, I. (2014). Islamophobia and Twitter: A typology of online hate against Muslims on social media. Policy and Internet, 6(2), 133–150. https://doi.org/10.1002/1944-2866.POI364
Äystö, T. (2024). Islam, race, and public discourse in Finland: Racialization and religionization. In Z. Abdullah (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Race (pp. 254–266). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429058875-19
Backlund, A., & Jungar, A.-C. (2022). Animal advocacy and the radical right: The case of Sweden. Journal of Political Ideologies, 27(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2022.2138292
Betakova, D., Boomgaarden, H., Lecheler, S., & Schäfer, S. (2024). I do not (want to) know! The relationship between intentional news avoidance and low news consumption. Mass Communication and Society, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2024.2304759
Bamberg, M. (2012). Narrative analysis. In H. Cooper, P. M. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, & K. J. Sher (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol. 2. Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 85–102). American Psychological Association.
Billings, A., & Parrott, S. (2020). Media stereotypes: From ageism to xenophobia. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b15280
Bleich, E. (2011). What is Islamophobia and how much is there? Theorizing and measuring an emerging comparative concept. American Behavioral Scientist, 55(12), 1581–1600. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764211409387
Bracke, S., & Hernández Aguilar, L. M. (2020). 'They love death as we love life': The 'Muslim question' and the biopolitics of replacement. The British Journal of Sociology, 71(1), 680–701. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12742
Brons, L. L. (2015). Othering, an analysis. Transcience, 6(1), 69–90. Retrieved from https://philarchive.org/rec/BROOAA-4
Brown, C. (2021). Echo chambers and confirmation bias in social media. Journal of Communication, 67(4), 345–360.
Brubaker, R. (2017). Between nationalism and civilizationism: The European populist moment in comparative perspective. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(8), 1191–1226. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1294700
Cesari, J. (2013). Why the West fears Islam: An exploration of Muslims in liberal democracies. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137121202
Charon, J. M. (1992). Symbolic interactionism: An introduction, an interpretation, an integration (4th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Choi, D. D., Poertner, M., & Sambanis, N. (2022). Native bias: Overcoming discrimination against immigrants. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691222325
Crang, M. (1998). Cultural geography. Routledge.
Dahl, M., & Nyrup, J. (2021). Confident and cautious candidates: Explaining under-representation of women in Danish municipal politics. European Journal of Political Research, 60(1), 199–224. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12396
Dancygier, R. M. (2014). Electoral rules or electoral leverage? Explaining Muslim representation in England. World Politics, 66(2), 229–263. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887114000021
Dancygier, R. M. (2017). Dilemmas of inclusion. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1vwmgf2
Di Stasio, V., Lancee, B., Veit, S., & Yemane, R. (2019). Muslim by default or religious discrimination? Results from a cross-national field experiment on hiring discrimination. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(3), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1622826
De Beauvoir, S. (1949). The Second Sex. Paris: Gallimard.
Farkas, J., & Xia, Y. (2023). Unpacking disinformation as social media discourse. In M. KhosraviNik (Ed.), Social media and society: Integrating the digital with the social in digital discourse (pp. 107–126). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.100.06far
Fernández-Reino, M., Di Stasio, V., & Veit, S. (2023). Discrimination unveiled: A field experiment on the barriers faced by Muslim women in Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. European Sociological Review, 39(3), 479–497. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcac032
Ferreira, G. B. (2018). Gatekeeping changes in the new media age: The Internet, values, and practices of journalism. Brazilian Journalism Research, 14(2), 486–505. https://doi.org/10.25200/BJR.v14n2.2018.1026
Finlay, R., & Hopkins, P. (2020). Resistance and marginalisation: Islamophobia and the political participation of young Muslims in Scotland. Social & Cultural Geography, 21(4), 546–568. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2019.1573436
Hatfield, E., & Cacioppo, S. (2013). From desire to love: New advances from social neuroscience. In L. Bormans (Ed.), The World Book of Love. Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo Publishers.
Harmer, E., & Lumsden, K. (2019). Online othering: Exploring digital violence and discrimination on the web. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12633-9
Harré, R. (1987). Enlarging the paradigm. New Ideas in Psychology, 5(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/0732-118X(87)90039-0
Harré, R., & Van Langenhove, L. (1999). Positioning theory: Moral contexts of intentional action. Blackwell.
Helbling, M., & Traunmüller, R. (2018). What is Islamophobia? Disentangling citizens' feelings towards ethnicity, religion, and religiosity using a survey experiment. British Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123418000054
Hermans, H. J. M., & Hermans-Jansen, E. (1995). Self-narratives: The construction of meaning in psychotherapy. Guilford Press.
Hermida, A. (2020). Post-publication gatekeeping: The interplay of publics, platforms, paraphernalia, and practices in the circulation of news. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 97(2), 469–491. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699020911882
Holton, J. A. (2007). The coding process and its challenges. In A. Bryant & K. Charmaz (Eds.), The Sage handbook of grounded theory (pp. 265–289). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848607941.n13
Hughes, M. M. (2016). Electoral systems and the legislative representation of Muslim ethnic minority women in the West, 2000–2010. Parliamentary Affairs, 69(3), 548–568. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsv062
Jensen, J. (2003). Analyzing online political discussion using three models of democratic communication. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2003.tb00216.x
Journalists' Union of Finland. (n.d.). Journalists' ethics. Retrieved January 6, 2025, from https://journalistiliitto.fi/en/journalists-ethics/ethics/
Khalimzoda, I. (2022). The history of the Russian-language media and diasporas in Latvia and Finland 18th–21st centuries. Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest, 2022/2(2), 153–173. https://doi.org/10.3917/receo1.533.0153
Khalimzoda, I., & Siitonen, M. (2022). Russian speakers' media engagement and acculturation in Finland and Latvia. Comparative Migration Studies, 10, 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00304-1
Khamis, S. (2021). Modern Muslims' online struggle: Countering Islamophobia one tweet at a time. Insight Turkey, 23(2), 51–64. https://doi.org/10.25253/99.2021232.4
KhosraviNik, M. (2022). Digital meaning-making across content and practice in social media critical discourse studies. Critical Discourse Studies, 19(2), 119–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2020.1835683
Krzyżanowski, M., & Ledin, P. (2017). Uncivility on the web: Populism in/and the borderline discourses of exclusion. Journal of Language and Politics, 16(4), 566-581. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.17028.krz
Lajevardi, N. (2020). Outsiders at home: The politics of American Islamophobia. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108782814
Lajevardi, N., & Oskooii, K. (2018). Old-fashioned racism, contemporary Islamophobia, and the isolation of Muslim Americans in the age of Trump. Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics, 3(1), 112–152. https://doi.org/10.1017/rep.2017.37
Lister, R. (2004). Poverty. Polity Press.
Mansouri, F., & Vergani, M. (2018). Intercultural contact, knowledge of Islam, and prejudice against Muslims in Australia. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 66, 85–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2018.07.001
Mead, G. H. (1962). Mind, self, and society: From the standpoint of a social behaviorist. University of Chicago Press.
Mohan, S., Delgado, M., Rasmussen, D. J., Muir-Wood, R., Wilson, P., Oppenheimer, M., & Houser, T. (2017). Estimating economic damage from climate change in the United States. Science, 356(6345), 1362-1369. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal4369
Meer, N., & Modood, T. (2012). For "Jewish" read "Muslim"? Islamophobia as a form of racialisation of ethno-religious groups in Britain today. Islamophobia Studies Journal, 1(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.13169/islastudj.1.1.0034
Mishnick, N., & Wise, D. (2024). Social media engagement: An analysis of the impact of social media campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. International Journal of Technology in Education (IJTE), 7(3), 535–549. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijte.699
National Transportation Safety Board. (1978). Aircraft accident report: Pan American World Airways, Inc., Boeing 747, N736PA and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Boeing 747, PH-BUF, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, March 27, 1977 (NTSB-AAR-78-12). Retrieved January 7, 2025, from https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR7812.pdf
Nee, R. C., & Santana, A. D. (2021). Podcasting the pandemic: Exploring storytelling formats and shifting journalistic norms in news podcasts related to the coronavirus. Journalism Practice, 16(8), 1559–1577. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2021.1882874
Nshom, E., Khalimzoda, I., Sadaf, S., & Shaymardanov, M. (2022). Perceived threat or perceived benefit? Immigrants' perception of how Finns tend to perceive them. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 86, 46–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2021.11.001
Nshom, E., Sadaf, S., & Khalimzoda, I. (2022). Perceived challenges living and integrating into Finnish society: A study among immigrants in Finland. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 22(3), 31–42. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v22i3.82
O'Connor, C., & Joffe, H. (2020). Intercoder reliability in qualitative research: Debates and practical guidelines. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919899220
Pergola, G., Gui, L., & He, Y. (2019). TDAM: A topic-dependent attention model for sentiment analysis. Information Processing & Management, 56(6), 102084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2019.102084
Pulliainen, M. (2024). 'Onnistumme, jos Allah suo', sanoi Airbus A320:n lentäjä - Sitten seurasi aivan holtitonta lentämistä ja lopuksi 98 ihmisen kuolemaan johtanut täystuho ['We will succeed, if Allah wills', said the pilot of the Airbus A320 - Then followed completely reckless flying and finally the complete destruction that led to the death of 98 people]. Tekniikkatalous. Retrieved March 7, 2024, from https://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/uutiset/tt/be138c2a-77c6-4100-9623-31c14aced96b
Reuters. (2024, June 19). Second stabbing in Finland appears to be racially motivated, police say. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/second-stabbing-finland-appears-be-racially-motivated-police-say-2024-06-19/
Robertson, S. P., Douglas, S., Maruyama, M., & Semaan, B. (2012). Hybrid media consumption: How tweeting during a televised political debate influences the vote decision. In Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 1422-1432). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2145204.2145377
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.
Salonen, M., Olbertz-Siitonen, M., Uskali, T., & Laaksonen, S. M. (2023). Conversational gatekeeping: Social interactional practices of post-publication gatekeeping on newspapers' Facebook pages. Journalism Practice, 17(9), 2053–2077. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2022.2034520
Stroud, N. J., Muddiman, A., & Scacco, J. M. (2015). The effects of argument strength and platform features on rational discourse. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(3), 233-249. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12113
Schirch, L. (2021). Social media impacts on conflict dynamics. Toda Peace Institute. Retrieved from https://toda.org/assets/files/resources/policy-briefs/t-pb-73lisa-schirchsan-diego-report-social-media-impacts-on-conflict-dynamics.pdf
Shoemaker, P. J., & Vos, T. P. (2009). Gatekeeping theory. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203931653
Simon, P., & Tiberj, V. (2018). Secularization or a return to religion? The religiosity of immigrants and their descendants. In C. Beauchemin, C. Hamel, & P. Simon (Eds.), Trajectories and origins: Survey on the diversity of the French population (pp. 307–330). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76638-6_12
Tajfel, H. (1974). Social identity and intergroup behaviour. Social Science Information, 13(2), 65–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847401300204
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks-Cole.
Tekniikka, T., A., M. (2022). Retrieved March 7, 2024, from https://www.almamedia.fi/mainostajat/mediat-ja-palvelut/talous-ja-ammattilaismediat/tekniikka-talous/
Terranova, T. (2012). Attention, economy and the brain. Culture Machine, 13. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://culturemachine.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/465-973-1-PB.pdf
Turnbull-Dugarte, S. J., & López Ortega, A. (2023). Instrumentally inclusive: The political psychology of homonationalism. American Political Science Review, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055423000849
van Oosten, S. (2022). What shapes voter expectations of Muslim politicians' views on homosexuality: Stereotyping or projection? Electoral Studies, 80, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2022.102553
van Oosten, S. (2023). Who favor in-group politicians? In-group voting in France, Germany, and the Netherlands and the challenges to the descriptive and substantive representation of Muslims. OSF Preprints. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/rkejd
van Oosten, S. (2024). Judeonationalism: Calling out antisemitism to discredit Muslims. ECPR's Political Science Blog The Loop. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://theloop.ecpr.eu/judeonationalism-antisemitism-for-the-discrediting-of-muslims/
Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy-making. Council of Europe report. Retrieved August 7, 2024, from https://rm.coe.int
Wessler, H. (2008). Investigating deliberativeness comparatively: Theoretical and methodological reflections. Comparative Sociology, 7(3), 316-340. https://doi.org/10.1163/156913308X336503
Weichselbaumer, D. (2020). Multiple discrimination against female immigrants wearing headscarves. ILR Review, 73(3), 600–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793919875707
Weninger, Zhu, & Han (2013): Weninger, T., Zhu, X. A., & Han, J. (2013). An exploration of discussion threads in social news sites: A case study of the Reddit community. In Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (pp. 579-583). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/2492517.2492646
Wuthnow, R. (1987). Meaning and moral order: Explorations in cultural analysis. University of California Press.
Authors
Copyright (c) 2025 Ilkhom Khalimzoda, Shomaila Sadaf, Sanne van Oosten

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This journal provides immediate and free open access to all its content and is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This means readers are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, as long as proper attribution is given. This policy is consistent with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition of open access.
Article Details
How to Cite
Most read articles by the same author(s)
- Elvis Nshom, Shomaila Sadaf, Ilkhom Khalimzoda, Perceived challenges living and integrating into Finnish society: A study among immigrants in Finland , Journal of Intercultural Communication: Vol. 22 No. 3 (2022)