Importing a new outgroup? Foreign right-wing alternative media coverage of Black Lives Matter: The case of Resett1

Abstract

This explorative study analyses the Norwegian right-wing alternative media outlet Resett’s extensive coverage of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the United States – not a traditional enemy of the European far right. It discusses and suggests explanations of the puzzling phenomenon of an ideological and media actor in a very different part of the world becoming politically invested in an internal American conflict. This research finds that Resett is strongly biased against BLM, disproportionally tying BLM to law and order issues and framing it as a threat. Resett portrays BLM as an extremist organization that attacks Trump supporters. Moreover, Resett, itself relying on American right-wing media for information, claims that mainstream media is not telling the truth about BLM. I suggest that future research should explore if interest in American politics and support for the American (far) right is something that influences the journalistic work of non-American right-wing alternative media.