Do not mess with a meme: the use of viral content in communicating politics

Domagoj Bebić e-mail(Login required) , Marija Volarevic e-mail(Login required)

Article Sidebar

PDF (487)
View in DADUN
Published: Jul 10, 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15581/003.31.35689
How to Cite
Bebić, D., & Volarevic, M. (2018). Do not mess with a meme: the use of viral content in communicating politics. Communication & Society, 31(3), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.31.35689

Main Article Content

Authors

Domagoj Bebić e-mail(Login required)
University of Zagreb.
Marija Volarevic e-mail(Login required)
University of Ljubljana.

Abstract

898
Political memes are no longer rare flashes of uncensored personality or intensely manicured visual messages; they have grown into a form of anarchic folk propaganda (Guardian, 2016). The role of the current research is to explain the role and significance of the Internet meme in political communication; to do so, the study takes on the case of former Croatian prime minister, Ivo Sanader. This paper provides the content analysis of the sarcastic Facebook initiative “Ćaća se vraća” (The Father Is Coming Back) and the content analysis of the most popular news portals in Croatia in period of Sanader release from prison. Pilot analysis detected four main thematic issues (typologies) of memes in which Sanader was presented: domestic political issues, domestic social issues, foreign political issues, and foreign social issues. Data show that Sanader was the main actor of the most memes and was presented usually in a positive tone and as a problem solver. In addition, research confirms that this initiative influenced the way media reported about Ivo Sanader in period of media debates about Sanader release from prison. Moreover, in all news where Sanader was mentioned as “ćaća” in selected time period it was always in a positive tone, which is true for all three of the most read news portals in Croatia.

Metrics

Search GoogleScholar



Details

Article Details

Issue
Vol 31 No 3 (2018) + Special Issue: Political Communication in Uncertain Times. Digital Technologies, Citizen Participation and Open Governance
Section
Special Issue: Articles: Political Communication in Uncertain Times. Digital Technologies, Citizen Participation and Open Governance

RIGHTS TRANSFER

By submitting the article for evaluation and subsequent publication in Communication & Society, the AUTHOR exclusively assigns the rights of public communication, reproduction, distribution and sale for commercial exploitation to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, for the maximum legal term in force -the entire life of the author and seventy years after his death or declaration of death-, in any country, and in any of the current and future edition modalities, both in print and electronic versions.

In the event that the article is not accepted for publication , this transfer of rights lapses with the communication of the refusal to the AUTHOR.

The AUTHOR affirms that the article is unpublished, that it has not been sent simultaneously to another publication medium and that the rights have not been transferred exclusively previously. He is responsible to the University of Navarra through its Publications Service for the authorship and originality of his work, as well as for all pecuniary charges that may arise for the University of Navarra through its Publications Service, in favor of third parties due to actions, claims or conflicts arising from the breach of obligations by the AUTHOR.

Licencia de Creative Commons
Communication & Society is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0.