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Article published In:
Discourses of Fake News
Edited by Scott Wright
[Journal of Language and Politics 20:5] 2021
► pp. 719–740

Beyond ‘fake news’?

A longitudinal analysis of how Australian politicians attack and criticise the media on Twitter

ORCID logo | Monash University

This article longitudinally analyses how Australian politicians engage with, and attack, journalists and the media more generally on Twitter from 2011–2018. The article finds that attacks on journalists have increased significantly since 2016 when Trump came to power, but this is largely the preserve of populist and far-right politicians. These politicians rarely call the media fake, instead alleging bias or questioning the veracity or standards of reporting and production. Many politicians have a functional relationship with the media, rarely criticising the media. Attacks are largely focused on the national public service broadcaster, the ABC, with limited attacks on commercial media.

Keywords: fake news, disinformation, misinformation, bias, political communication, journalism
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Understanding attacks on journalists
  • 3.Australian politicians’ and attacks on the media
  • 4.Method
  • 5.The discursive form of engagement
  • 6.Fake news discourse
  • 7.Beyond fake news
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.21027.wri
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