Journalistic Tactic and Intercultural Deficit: Post-publication Audience Engagement in a Finnish News Case Study

Ilkhom Khalimzoda (1) , Shomaila Sadaf (2) , Sanne van Oosten (3)
1. Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä
2. Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyvaskyla
3. The Centre of Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS), University of Oxford, Oxford

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

Generated from XML file

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Billings, A., & Parrott, S. (2020). Media stereotypes: From ageism to xenophobia. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b15280 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Brons, L. L. (2015). Othering, an analysis. Transcience, 6(1), 69–90. Retrieved from https://philarchive.org/rec/BROOAA-4 Google Scholar | WorldCat

Brown, C. (2021). Echo chambers and confirmation bias in social media. Journal of Communication, 67(4), 345–360. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Cesari, J. (2013). Why the West fears Islam: An exploration of Muslims in liberal democracies. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137121202 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Charon, J. M. (1992). Symbolic interactionism: An introduction, an interpretation, an integration (4th ed.). Prentice Hall. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Choi, D. D., Poertner, M., & Sambanis, N. (2022). Native bias: Overcoming discrimination against immigrants. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691222325 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Crang, M. (1998). Cultural geography. Routledge. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Dancygier, R. M. (2017). Dilemmas of inclusion. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1vwmgf2 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

De Beauvoir, S. (1949). The Second Sex. Paris: Gallimard. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Harré, R. (1987). Enlarging the paradigm. New Ideas in Psychology, 5(1), 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/0732-118X(87)90039-0 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Harré, R., & Van Langenhove, L. (1999). Positioning theory: Moral contexts of intentional action. Blackwell. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Hermans, H. J. M., & Hermans-Jansen, E. (1995). Self-narratives: The construction of meaning in psychotherapy. Guilford Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Journalists' Union of Finland. (n.d.). Journalists' ethics. Retrieved January 6, 2025, from https://journalistiliitto.fi/en/journalists-ethics/ethics/ Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Lajevardi, N. (2020). Outsiders at home: The politics of American Islamophobia. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108782814 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Lister, R. (2004). Poverty. Polity Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Mead, G. H. (1962). Mind, self, and society: From the standpoint of a social behaviorist. University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | WorldCat

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/ Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books. Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | WorldCat

Shoemaker, P. J., & Vos, T. P. (2009). Gatekeeping theory. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203931653 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Tajfel, H. (1974). Social identity and intergroup behaviour. Social Science Information, 13(2), 65–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847401300204 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Tekniikka, T., A., M. (2022). Retrieved March 7, 2024, from https://www.almamedia.fi/mainostajat/mediat-ja-palvelut/talous-ja-ammattilaismediat/tekniikka-talous/ Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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/ Google Scholar | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | WorldCat

Wessler, H. (2008). Investigating deliberativeness comparatively: Theoretical and methodological reflections. Comparative Sociology, 7(3), 316-340. https://doi.org/10.1163/156913308X336503 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Weichselbaumer, D. (2020). Multiple discrimination against female immigrants wearing headscarves. ILR Review, 73(3), 600–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/0019793919875707 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

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 Google Scholar | Crossref | WorldCat

Wuthnow, R. (1987). Meaning and moral order: Explorations in cultural analysis. University of California Press. Google Scholar | WorldCat

Authors

Ilkhom Khalimzoda
khalimzodai@gmail.com (Primary Contact)
Author Biographies

Ilkhom Khalimzoda

Ilkhom Khalimzoda is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Language and Communication Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. His research focuses on migration, acculturation, and media. He is a member of the monitoring group for the Centre of Excellence in Integration, Finland. He is also a research associate at the European Centre for Populism Studies (ECPS) and a member of the board of directors at the Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration (ETMU).

Shomaila Sadaf

Shomaila Sadaf is a university lecturer in the Department of Language and Communication Studies at the University of Jyväskylä. She is concurrently pursuing her doctoral studies in Intercultural Communication. Her research primarily examines discourses of othering and positioning on social media, with a particular focus on the dynamics between ingroups and outgroups in discussions related to religion and gender. Additionally, she investigates how multimodal resources reshape dominant narratives and counter-narratives on social media. Her broader research interests include prejudice and othering, particularly in relation to how immigrants are perceived by host societies.

Sanne van Oosten

Sanne van Oosten is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford, at the Centre of Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS). She did a PhD in political science at the University of Amsterdam on in-group voting amongst minority and majority groups, with a special interest in Muslim substantive representation. Her interests are the impact of anti-Muslim racism in politics and society, anti-Muslim narratives and policies in post-9/11 societal debates, the political representation of Muslim politicians in European parliaments, the electoral implications of anti-Muslim discrimination, and voter discrimination against Muslim politicians. Currently, Sanne is researching discrimination against minorities by employers, landlords, and childcare facilitators and the resultant impact on the well-being and identification of these minorities, particularly Black and Muslim groups. This research is part of the Horizon 2020 project EqualStrength. Her work has been published in journals such as Public Integrity, Legislative Studies, Electoral Studies, and Acta Politica.

Khalimzoda, I., Sadaf, S., & Oosten, S. van. (2025). Journalistic Tactic and Intercultural Deficit: Post-publication Audience Engagement in a Finnish News Case Study. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 25(1), 131-144. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v25i1.1025

Article Details

How to Cite

Khalimzoda, I., Sadaf, S., & Oosten, S. van. (2025). Journalistic Tactic and Intercultural Deficit: Post-publication Audience Engagement in a Finnish News Case Study. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 25(1), 131-144. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v25i1.1025

Most read articles by the same author(s)