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A critical analysis of white supremacist use of the mass media: The spreading of hate
Abstract
This study explores three interrelated channels of mass communication utilized by the white supremacy movement to spread their message of hate: newspapers, commercial talk shows, and cable public access programming. Proceeding under the assumption that scholarship is best thought of as a conversation with multiple, equally valid perspectives engaged in a search for knowledge, the messages white supremacists transmit via the mass media are analyzed using focus group interviews, content analysis, and a new reading of Kenneth Burke's concept of identification. The analysis offered occurs within overlapping contexts, including the white supremacist movement and traditional as well as contemporary patterns of belief found in American culture. The results of the analysis reveal that the white supremacist movement finds support for a number of complex reasons. From a media standpoint, newspaper coverage of white supremacist activities is frequently too "event-centered" and lacks adequate background research. Commercial talk shows and white supremacist-produced talk shows for public access channels, the analysis shows, benefit more than they harm the hate group cause. From a message standpoint, white supremacy offers a vision fairly compatible with traditional American beliefs and current cultural attitudes. Suggestions for fighting white supremacy on both media and message levels are offered in the conclusion.
Subject Area
Communication|Mass media|Journalism
Recommended Citation
Aden, Roger C, "A critical analysis of white supremacist use of the mass media: The spreading of hate" (1989). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9013598.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9013598