Negative and Engaged: Sentiments towards the 2016 Migrant Quota Referendum in Hungarian Online Media
Negative and Engaged: Sentiments towards the 2016 Migrant Quota Referendum in Hungarian Online Media
Author(s): János TóthSubject(s): Media studies, Government/Political systems, Social Informatics, Migration Studies, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment, ICT Information and Communications Technologies, Asylum, Refugees, Migration as Policy-fields
Published by: SAGE Publications Ltd
Keywords: new populism; Hungary; online media; European migrant crisis; referendum;
Summary/Abstract: The 2016 migrant quota referendum and the preceding anti-migrant and anti-EU campaign in Hungary led to a milestone in manipulating public fear of societal change by new East-Central European populism. This article maps and analyzes sentiments toward the referendum in Hungarian-language online media, using software-supported sentiment analysis of mentions of the quota referendum published online between 1 September and 31 October 2016. Results show a preponderance of negative sentiments over positive ones in both pro-government and independent media and the dominance of independent media in the coverage of the event. Coverage of the referendum received more weight in pro-government media compared to their lesser online presence, but this was fueled by astroturfed online discussion communities and content disseminated from at least one Russian state propaganda source.
Journal: East European Politics and Societies
- Issue Year: 35/2021
- Issue No: 02
- Page Range: 493-518
- Page Count: 26
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF