Far-right media on the internet: culture, discourse and power

Atton, Chris

Abstract

This study examines the discourse of the British National Party’s (BNP) website. It explores the site as a form of alternative media, focusing on how it involves members and supporters in its discursive construction of racism. It finds that the discourses and identities produced are played out through a radical reformation of the concepts of power, culture and oppression. Drawing on the post-colonial notion of the Other, the BNP seeks to present itself, its activities and its members as responses to racism and oppression that, it argues, are practised by the Other. While this discourse is constructed through the everyday experiences and attitudes of its members, the hierarchically-determined nature of the site prevents those members from sustained, active involvement in the construction of their own identities. For this reason, the study concludes, the BNP’s site is far from the more open, non-hierarchical practices of ‘progressive’ alternative media.

Citation

Atton, C. (2006). Far-right media on the internet: culture, discourse and power. New Media and Society, 8(4), 573-587. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444806065653

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jun 30, 2016
• Publication Date: 2006-08
• Deposit Date: Mar 9, 2010
• Print ISSN: 1461-4448
• Electronic ISSN: 1461-7315
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 573-587
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444806065653
• Keywords: alternative media; British National Party; colonialism; far-right; political extremism; racism
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/3611
• Publisher URL: http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/8/4/573