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

Jurg, DanielDanielJurgVis, SarahSarahVisPicone, IkeIkePicone2025-07-102024-06-252025-07-1020251369-118XWOS:001249788800001https://imec-publications.be/handle/20.500.12860/44091Alternative 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.Making sense of ambivalence: audience perceptions and uses of Ben Shapiro as an alternative political commentatorJournal article10.1080/1369118X.2024.2363910WOS:001249788800001CRITICAL QUESTIONSCIVIL-RIGHTSMEDIA