Network Media Logics – The Case of Euroscepticism

Depictions of journalists as watchdogs and media as a fourth estate, illustrate the strong links between media and politics. In theories of media logics it is even questioned whether it is possible to understand the two as different domains. Here, the media is not only linked to politics through journalistic practices of scrutinizing power, but are also conceived as sites of power themselves, out of which politics is exercised. What is happening today is that the media landscape is changing profoundly. Social media platforms have establishing themselves as main loci for mediated communication, socialization and not the least politics. I have argued elsewhere for the perspective of network media logic as useful to explain how social media platforms change political communication without resorting to neither technological determinism nor normalization (i.e. that societal structures are just replicated online). The changing media and communication landscapes towards digitalization and social media seems to have been accompanied by an increasing polarized political landscape with parties with an agenda critical of EU and the integration process. Following theories of media logics we know that politics and political actors adapt to the logics and workings of the media. The question thus arises whether the logics of social media (alone or in tandem with political logics and logics of traditionalmedia) have played a part in the construction, framing, and dissemination of Eurosceptic narratives. By highlighting polarization, fragmentation, reflexivity and connectivity within the perspective of network media logic this paper attempts to study the intersections between network media logic and Euroscepticism.