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Fresh News, innovative news : popularizing Cambodia’s authoritarian turn

Norén-Nilsson, Astrid LU (2021) In Critical Asian Studies 53(1). p.89-108
Abstract

This article seeks to advance understanding of how the new logics of an expanding digital media system can be mobilized in the service of authoritarianism, by tracing how an online news platform support the legal and discursive production of hegemonic authoritarianism in Cambodia. A state crackdown on independent media has been accompanied by the rise of private digital news outlet Fresh News, which has played a singular role in enabling, legitimizing, and seeking to craft support for Cambodia’s recent shift from competitive to hegemonic authoritarianism. Fresh News represents an authoritarian innovation which can be broken down into three main components: articulating a government-aligned definition of democracy which celebrates... (More)

This article seeks to advance understanding of how the new logics of an expanding digital media system can be mobilized in the service of authoritarianism, by tracing how an online news platform support the legal and discursive production of hegemonic authoritarianism in Cambodia. A state crackdown on independent media has been accompanied by the rise of private digital news outlet Fresh News, which has played a singular role in enabling, legitimizing, and seeking to craft support for Cambodia’s recent shift from competitive to hegemonic authoritarianism. Fresh News represents an authoritarian innovation which can be broken down into three main components: articulating a government-aligned definition of democracy which celebrates strongman rule and rejects liberal democracy; supporting an ongoing judicialization of Cambodian mega-politics; and disseminating a “fake news” discourse which seeks to achieve an epistemic shift. The ambiguous status of Fresh News as a private though overtly state-sanctioned enterprise is a key aspect of these authoritarian innovations, as it popularizes Cambodia’s authoritarian turn from the vantage point of an elusive distance from the state.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
authoritarianism, Cambodia, digital media, hegemonic authoritarianism, news
in
Critical Asian Studies
volume
53
issue
1
pages
89 - 108
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85096534689
ISSN
1467-2715
DOI
10.1080/14672715.2020.1837637
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6405b2e7-9f93-49be-ba04-0efbfa540de6
date added to LUP
2020-12-08 10:15:28
date last changed
2022-04-26 22:21:04
@article{6405b2e7-9f93-49be-ba04-0efbfa540de6,
  abstract     = {{<p>This article seeks to advance understanding of how the new logics of an expanding digital media system can be mobilized in the service of authoritarianism, by tracing how an online news platform support the legal and discursive production of hegemonic authoritarianism in Cambodia. A state crackdown on independent media has been accompanied by the rise of private digital news outlet Fresh News, which has played a singular role in enabling, legitimizing, and seeking to craft support for Cambodia’s recent shift from competitive to hegemonic authoritarianism. Fresh News represents an authoritarian innovation which can be broken down into three main components: articulating a government-aligned definition of democracy which celebrates strongman rule and rejects liberal democracy; supporting an ongoing judicialization of Cambodian mega-politics; and disseminating a “fake news” discourse which seeks to achieve an epistemic shift. The ambiguous status of Fresh News as a private though overtly state-sanctioned enterprise is a key aspect of these authoritarian innovations, as it popularizes Cambodia’s authoritarian turn from the vantage point of an elusive distance from the state.</p>}},
  author       = {{Norén-Nilsson, Astrid}},
  issn         = {{1467-2715}},
  keywords     = {{authoritarianism; Cambodia; digital media; hegemonic authoritarianism; news}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{89--108}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Critical Asian Studies}},
  title        = {{Fresh News, innovative news : popularizing Cambodia’s authoritarian turn}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2020.1837637}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/14672715.2020.1837637}},
  volume       = {{53}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}