Making sense of ambivalence: audience perceptions and uses of Ben Shapiro as an alternative political commentator

Abstract

Alternative Political Commentators (APCs) have gained prominence on digital platforms as new opinion leaders to politically engaged young adults. This study responds to a growing demand for an audience-focused exploration of perceptions and use practices of what has been described as reactionary digital media. We specifically examine the case of Ben Shapiro, a leading conservative voice on YouTube, employing a mixed-methods approach, triangulating computational analyses of YouTube comments (n = 711,909) with in-depth interviews with young (18–33) daily Shapiro viewers based in Belgium (n = 15). Positioning Shapiro as an ambivalent online political figure, our study conceptualizes the two primary roles he fulfills for his audiences: (1) the rational articulate and non-emotional news provider, and (2) the affective witty and sometimes rude entertainer who skillfully ‘destroys’ opponents in so-called YouTube drama. Within their everyday life context, we reveal how audiences, in a likewise ambivalent manner, oscillate between casual use of Shapiro the entertainer and structured use of Shapiro the news provider. Through a reconstruction of Shapiro's dual role, our contribution suggests his style, particularly his voice, as a central quality through which audiences navigate Shapiro's ambivalence in their sense-making practices of him as an Alternative Political Commentator.