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Indignation engines: platform capitalism and the transformation of media
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Date
2026-07-03
Authors
Goodwin, Billy
Journal Title
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Publisher
University College Cork
Published Version
Abstract
This thesis examines how the structural logics of platform capitalism are reshaping the production of news and its circulation and reception. As digital platforms have become the dominant infrastructures through which news is distributed and encountered, journalistic practice is increasingly organised around metrics, algorithmic visibility, and the imperatives of engagement. Within this environment, the conditions under which news is produced and consumed have been reconfigured, privileging speed and affective intensity over slower forms of deliberative communication. Thus, drawing on theoretical insights from Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, and Hartmut Rosa, I explore how today’s digital news environments operate through regimes of acceleration, simulation, and metric-driven evaluation. Particular attention is given to the ways in which these structural conditions influence both journalistic labour and audience engagement. I show how, under the pressures of platformised circulation, news discourse increasingly adopts stylised forms designed to maximise visibility and engagement.
Methodologically, the study combines a critical discourse analysis of twenty-five news articles drawn from Irish and British media outlets with analysis of associated social media comment threads, alongside qualitative interviews with journalists, editors, and social media users. This multi-layered approach allows me to examine how platform logics shape news discourse at the levels of both production and reception. Accordingly, the findings suggest that the economic and infrastructural imperatives of platform capitalism encourage the circulation of news narratives that privilege immediacy and affective legibility. Within this environment, indignation emerges as a recurrent affective modality through which stories gain visibility and audiences signal recognition and alignment. However, rather than treating indignation as a purely cultural phenomenon, I argue that such affective dynamics are better understood as structural artefacts of contemporary platformised media systems. In doing so, I contribute to debates in media sociology and digital culture by demonstrating how the logics and infrastructures of platform capitalism transform both journalistic practice and public discourse.
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Controlled Access
Keywords
Media , Platform capitalism , Indignation , Sociology , Social theory
Citation
Goodwin, B. 2026. Indignation engines: platform capitalism and the transformation of media. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.