Abstract
Intense mainstream news coverage, graphic media spectacle and national political attention dominated public discussion about a local planning proposal to build a $3 million mosque complex in the regional Victorian city of Bendigo in 2014-2016. This article focuses on a study of Twitter and its relationship to the public issue. It employs a “geo-social” framework to examine how the mosque controversy entered wider information flows and engaged political power beyond the lo-cal. It provides contextually specific evidence of mainstream media and elite level actors dominating Twitter during deliberations over a local government planning issue. The analysis reveals how Twitter use in this case was shaped around legacy media logics, such as “old” news values and traditional power structures, rather than generating wide participatory public discussion and engagement on the issue.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 47-60 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Australian Journalism Review |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |