Carmela Guaglianone Post-Workshop Reflection

The most overarching theme my group (group 10) was able to discern in our analysis of fake news through different cultures was the distinction that each narrative created between an “us” group and a “them” group. The strategy of the news, in each case, was to take an event or image of some kind and misconstrue the context to further develop some argument that the perpetrators of the fake news supported. In one case, this meant the direct tampering with the language on a sign that a woman was holding up in an image. The woman was supporting immigration in her sign, which read “our ports are open” (or something to that effect) and the words had been photoshopped to read “my legs are open”. This change not only erased the actual rhetoric and opinion of the woman protesting, but othered her by humiliating her on social media platforms. This embarrassment acts as an example of a common sentiment within fake news– not only is the other side wrong, but they are not worthy of our respect. In another example, the words of a minister of immigration were changed and placed in quotes; a similarly blatant disregard for the rules of mass communication and journalism especially. Again in this case, the reporters disregarded the words and humanity of the speaker and used her speech as a platform to further their own central arguments against immigration and migrants (and consequently, anyone seen in support of said migrants).

What I found most interesting throughout our analysis was the manner in which the migrant was othered and the impact that it had on the perception of migrants throughout the nation. Often migrants are depicted (through many different mechanisms) as victims or criminals or both. The news uses cultural differences and pre-existing stereotypes as cultural borders of sorts, and then as mechanisms of distinction between and in group and an out group. In using them in this migrants and “the migrant experience” becomes an object of sorts. It becomes a facet of the world they perceive, rather than a web of complex histories and experiences. And furthermore, it becomes a tool to criticize and exclude actual people from the stories they have crafted and the arguments they are attending. Similarly, this creates a pre-existing stratification between migrants and nationals which feeds back into the state power dynamic and polarizes the groups when migrants do arrive.

 

Carmela Guaglianone

1 Reply to “Carmela Guaglianone Post-Workshop Reflection”

  1. A very important characteristic of fake news across languages seems to be the trend to contextualize photos falsely, which in this particular case was meant to use humor to ostracize someone that the perpetrators of the fake news viewed as belonging to the “other.” Furthermore, Carmela raises the interesting point that fake news aimed against immigrants often dehumanizes them in order to further motivate anti-immigration rhetoric within its target audience.

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