Alternative Media and Nonlinear Mediated Debate: The Case of Variety Streamers

AbstractPast research has noted that alternative media often facilitate debate between activists and advocates for political policies. However, such research does not typically address the processes for those debates. In recent years, political influencers have increasingly made debates important content in the alternative media they produce through streaming services. In 2021, I observed a debate between three influencers that took place through YouTube and Twitch. In this research project, I engaged in a qualitative content analysis of key texts, using concepts concerning debate from past political communication research. Specifically, I examined the pre-debate, debate and post-debate stages in order to identify different attacks, acclaims or defences utilised by the influencers. The findings, viewed through the lens of mediated construction of reality described by Couldry and Hepp, demonstrate that those linear stages established in past campaign research do not fully apply to the context of alternative media found on streaming services. Instead, this debate was a nonlinear process in which the “pre-debate” stage was actually the debate.Keywords: Alternative mediaStreaming servicesPolitical influencersMediated construction of realityDebate DISCLOSURE STATEMENTNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 None of the participants of this debate took part in the interviews that I conducted for my separate project.2 Ethan Klein no longer uploads videos to the H3H3 Productions channel on YouTube.3 Shortly after the debate, Klein discontinued the H3H3 Twitch channel.Additional informationNotes on contributorsJoshua AtkinsonJoshua Atkinson (corresponding author) is Professor of Communication in School of Media & Communication at College of Arts and Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA.