The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had severe political, economic, and societal effects, it has also affected media and communication systems in unprecedented ways. While traditional journalistic media has tried to adapt to the rapidly evolving situation, alternative news media on the Internet have given the events their own ideological spin. Such voices have been criticized for furthering societal confusion and spreading potentially dangerous "fake news" or conspiracy theories via social media and other online channels. The current study analyzes the factual basis of such fears in an initial computational content analysis of alternative news media's output on Facebook during the early Corona crisis, based on a large German data set from January to the second half of March 2020. Using computational content analysis, methods, reach, interactions, actors, and topics of the messages were examined, as well as the use of fabricated news and conspiracy theories. The analysis revealed that the alternative news media stay true to message patterns and ideological foundations identified in prior research. While they do not spread obvious lies, they are predominantly sharing overly critical, even anti-systemic messages, opposing the view of the mainstream news media and the political establishment. With this pandemic populism, they contribute to a contradictory, menacing, and distrusting worldview, as portrayed in detail in this analysis.

中文翻译：

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流行的民粹主义：另类新闻媒体的 Facebook 页面和电晕危机——计算内容分析

COVID-19 大流行不仅产生了严重的政治、经济和社会影响，还以前所未有的方式影响了媒体和通信系统。传统新闻媒体试图适应快速发展的形势，而互联网上的另类新闻媒体则赋予了这些事件自己的意识形态色彩。此类声音因加剧社会混乱和通过社交媒体和其他在线渠道传播具有潜在危险的“假新闻”或阴谋论而受到批评。当前的研究基于 2020 年 1 月至 3 月下半月的德国大型数据集，在对电晕危机早期替代新闻媒体在 Facebook 上的输出进行的初步计算内容分析中分析了这种恐惧的事实基础。 使用计算内容分析, 方法, 到达, 检查了消息的交互、参与者和主题，以及捏造新闻和阴谋论的使用。分析表明，替代新闻媒体忠于先前研究中确定的信息模式和意识形态基础。虽然他们不散布明显的谎言，但他们主要分享过于批评甚至反体制的信息，反对主流新闻媒体和政治机构的观点。在这种流行的民粹主义中，他们助长了一种矛盾的、威胁性的和不信任的世界观，正如本分析中所详细描述的。分析表明，替代新闻媒体忠于先前研究中确定的信息模式和意识形态基础。虽然他们不散布明显的谎言，但他们主要分享过于批评甚至反体制的信息，反对主流新闻媒体和政治机构的观点。在这种流行的民粹主义中，他们助长了一种矛盾的、威胁性的和不信任的世界观，正如本分析中所详细描述的。分析表明，替代新闻媒体忠于先前研究中确定的信息模式和意识形态基础。虽然他们不散布明显的谎言，但他们主要分享过于批评甚至反体制的信息，反对主流新闻媒体和政治机构的观点。在这种流行的民粹主义中，他们助长了一种矛盾的、威胁性的和不信任的世界观，正如本分析中所详细描述的那样。