Publications

2024

Embrace or leave social media? On the viability of public service media organizations’ strategies facing platform power (2024). European Journal of Communication. Author: Hallvard Moe.

Scientific article. This article addresses the question of whether a withdrawal from social media platforms represents a viable strategy in the ongoing relational power negotiations between public service media and platforms, and if so, under what conditions. Recent diverging strategic efforts from public service broadcasters in two European countries – Germany and Norway – serve as illustrations of how existing organizations attempt to manoeuvre the current online realm dominated by platforms. I discuss findings from qualitative studies of news use in Norway and draw on comparative survey data on news use. I propose that high levels of trust in public service media, and widespread use of the public service broadcaster's own sites and offers, are key prerequisites to consider when assessing the viability of a withdrawal from third-party platforms in different countries. By zooming in on one type of media organization (public service broadcasters), and looking at different such organizations’ characteristics and context, and the dynamics of their relations to online platforms, the paper contributes to our understanding of platform power.

Defending Democracy: Prioritizing the Study of Epistemic Inequalities (tandfonline.com) (2024) Political Communication, 1-7. Authors: Emilija Gagrcin, Hallvard Moe.

Discussion paper. Digital media have fundamentally altered how knowledge is produced and distributed, often being blamed for contemporary democratic problems. This short essay examines recent contributions to normative democratic theory, focusing on three questions: 1) characterization of media-related threats, 2) media and communication aspects supportive of democracy, and 3) diagnosis of democracy’s core challenges. Our reading reveals that while digital media is seen to contribute to the epistemic crisis, the core problem can be traced back to the profound impact of communicative capitalism on our epistemic infrastructures. We call for political communication scholars to prioritize the study of epistemic inequalities by critically examining and addressing the pervasive influence of market logic in both our work and the subject of study. In doing so, we can make an empirically informed contribution to democratic theory’s quest to defend democracy.

Jürgen Habermas: Den nye offentligheten: Strukturendring og deliberativ politikk (2024) Tidsskrift for Samfunnsforskning. Author: Hallvard Moe.

Book review. A review of the Norwegian-language edition of Jürgen Habermas: Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit und die deliberative Politik (2022, in German). Only available in Norwegian.

2023

Operationalizing distribution as a key concept for public sphere theory. A call for ethnographic sensibility of different social worlds (2023) Communication Theory. Author: Hallvard Moe.

Scientific paper. This article takes issue with public sphere theories’ lack of focus on the consequences of social inequality. Citizens divide the work of following politics between them, and we need a cohesive conceptualization of such divisions, through and beyond today’s intrusive media and with attention to social inequalities. Instead of ideals of fully informed individual citizens, I propose we take the empirical fact of distribution of citizens’ public connection as a starting point and anchor our theoretical ideals in the social world with an “ethnographic sensibility.” Doing so facilitates an operationalized concept of distribution of citizens’ public connection into four elements: issues, arenas, and communicative modes, which citizens variously rely on over time. With such an operationalization, we can assess when and for whom the distribution of public connection goes too far and disfavors certain citizens. This helps bring public sphere theory beyond the conundrum of our societies’ paradoxically uninformed citizens.