The News in New Media

Author: mcridde

A Week After the Indictment

April 10, 2023

Image courtesy of ABC News

In the week following the formal indictment of Donald Trump, nearly 450 thousand Tweets have been sent mentioning the former President’s predicament. The indictment, unsealed on Tuesday April 4th, includes 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to alleged hush money payments made in 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels. 

Mentions reached a sharp peak on April 4th as the details of the charges came to light, with 186 thousand mentions of Trump and ‘indictment’ in a single day. The message with the most retweets that day was the Manhattan District Attorney’s own tweet: 

Conservative voices were the loudest on Twitter that day, with the most popular Tweets coming from politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Ted Cruz. These and other Republican voices came to Trumps’ defense, calling the indictment at best anti-democratic or, at worst, fake. 

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1643341848029659139

The severity of the charges against Trump and the likelihood of his conviction seem to depend on which source one consults. Unsurprisingly, perspectives seem to divide along partisan lines. 

Trump himself is of course left out of the conversation on Twitter since his ban, but has been very active on TruthSocial, his own social networking site. Trump has posted 14 times in the past 24 hours and since the indictment has averaged over a dozen posts per day. Some of Trump’s posts seem cryptic and frightening, but most simply accuse, in myriad ways, the state of New York of conspiring against him. Trump maintains a loyal following on TruthSocial, with nearly every one of his posts receiving more than 20 thousand likes.

Donald Trump Jr. has also been active on TruthSocial since the indictment, but caused a stir when he shared a news article featuring a picture of the judge in Trump Sr.’s case, Juan Merchan, with his daughter, Loren, and claimed that she worked on the Biden-Harris presidential campaign. Trump Jr. has since deleted the post after it caused too much outrage.

While the breaking news of the indictment struck, the conversation on Twitter reached a fever pitch. However, now that the news is out, the conversation seems to have died down. While the day of the arraignment saw over 186 thousand tweets about Trump’s indictment, today there have been only about 6 thousand. 

This graph demonstrates the peak of the conversation on April 4th and its decline over the past week

Currently, prosecutors are seeking to prohibit Mr. Trump from posting evidence on social media or otherwise providing it to the media. Some speculate that Judge Merchan may have to consider a gag order for Trump in order to keep the case progressing normally, but until then we look forward to keeping an eye on the conversation.

By Molly Riddell

Nation in Mourning after mass shooting in Tennessee

March 31, 2023

Image courtesy CNN

The nation reels in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Nashville, TN that left 3 children and 3 adults dead as well as the shooter themselves, who was killed by police. 

Globally, the terms “Nashville shooting” or “shooter” were mentioned 1.2 million times in the first 24 hours after the incident, with over 469 thousand of those mentions coming from within the United States. As usual in the aftermath of a mass shooting, the conversation on social media centered in part around the need for reform in gun ownership laws. 

Comparisons between the incident in Nashville and previous school shootings constituted another large portion of the conversation, with Uvalde ranking as Tuesday’s number one trending topic on Twitter. Other trending topics on Tuesday included AR-15 (number 3) and Columbine (number 26). 

Nationally, many conservative figureheads honed in on the identity of the shooter: Audrey Hale, a 28 year old former student, who identified as transgender and used he/him pronouns on social media. Conservatives were quick to connect the shooting to Hale’s gender identity in Tweets that many considered offensive and worrying for others in the trans community. As usual, Marjorie Taylor Greene helped lead the charge. 

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1640454996821934082

More locally, many users in Tennessee called the attack a hate crime against Christians due to the fact that the shooting took place at the Covenant School, a private elementary school on the grounds of Covenant Presbyterian Church. This effect was compounded after it was revealed that one of the lives lost was that of 9 year old Hallie Scruggs, daughter of a local pastor. 

Other users in Tennessee challenged this narrative, instead arguing that gun culture and congressional impotence were to blame for the violence. 

https://twitter.com/bradbatt/status/1640455606665445378

As police released more information about the shooter, the term ‘manifesto’ began to occupy space in the Twitter conversation, with over 10 thousand users asserting that the FBI should make the shooter’s writings public. Some insist on conspiracy, alleging that the FBI is covering up the shooter’s manifesto to avoid perception of the shooting as a hate crime. Most of these Tweets attached a video of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, whose influence on social media, while regrettable, remains considerable:

Those murdered in the tragedy were Evelyn Dieckhaus, age 9; Mike Hill, age 61; Katherine Koonce, age 60; Cynthia Peak, age 61; Hallie Scruggs, age 9; and William Kinney, age 9. The SMLC and the rest of the nation mourn their senseless deaths. 

By Molly Riddell

A Tale of Two Cities (and Two Presidents)

February 24, 2023

Featured image courtesy of Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via The Hill

President Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine on Monday, Feb. 20th to show his support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and to mark the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion that sparked prolonged conflict and generated mixed global response. 

Since Sunday there have been 1.6 million total mentions of Biden and Ukraine or Zelenskyy on Twitter, with the hashtag #ukraine used 83.3 thousand times. After news of the visit broke, conversation on social media consisted of volleys between political opinion leaders as they argued about whether the trip was appropriate in light of major concerns here at home, particularly the train derailment that took place earlier this month in East Palestine, Ohio. 

Fox news offered their own analysis of the “Ohio vs. Ukraine” conversation’s polarizing effect, describing how “conservative and liberal pundits sparred on Twitter”. As usual, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Congresswoman from Georgia, gained considerable traction with her tweet that criticized Biden for traveling to Ukraine rather than attending to issues here in the States. 

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1627649971343458304

Greene usually features prominently on conservative Twitter, and this tweet was no different, reaching 5.2 million viewers. While the high number of likes and interactions with MTG’s tweet does imply that many users agree with her statements, it should also be noted that the majority of the quote tweets and replies to the tweet are negative and express disagreement. 

Greene was not the only one tweeting vitriol at Biden, and her sentiment above was echoed by many other popular conservative accounts. However, Biden supporters made their voices heard as well, with many users interacting with tweets that compared Biden favorably to Trump. 

Themes comparing Biden to Trump continued throughout the week, since President Trump visited East Palestine, Ohio on Wednesday to hand out beans and water to victims of the toxic conditions created by the train derailment. While some responded to Trump’s visit with support, others couldn’t help but question Trump’s motives for the trip.

The dramatic situation in Ohio remains deeply entangled in social media conversations about Biden’s choice to visit Zelenskyy. On Twitter, the words most commonly associated with Biden’s visit to Ukraine include war (161k mentions), people (127k mentions), Russia (123k mentions), and Ohio (119k mentions), demonstrating the importance of the Ohio derailment to America’s understanding of the Ukraine visit’s impact, success, and utility. 

Most conservative backlash on social media seems to take issue not with the visit itself, but with the prioritization of foreign issues over our own, local problems here in the States. The New York Times reports that planning for Biden’s trip to Ukraine had been “under way for months”, but that the final decision was made Friday. This left some Americans feeling snubbed.

Was Biden “brave” and “strong” for going to Ukraine, or is he showing “weakness” and “disgrace”?  As the social media conversation continues, we at the SMLC keep listening.

Author: Molly Riddell

Clemson alumna Nikki Haley announces run for president

February 17, 2023

Photo from @nikkihaley on Instagram

Former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley announced her campaign for the 2024 presidential race this week. Haley is a home-grown South Carolinian, a Clemson alumna, and was appointed to a lifetime position on Clemson University’s board of trustees in 2021. 

The formal announcement came Tuesday, Feb. 14 in the form of a video tweeted from Haley’s Twitter account. Haley’s tweet containing the video was retweeted over 3 thousand times within the first 24 hours, reaching more than 8.5 million viewers.

In the video, Haley proudly identifies as the daughter of Indian-American immigrants. She denies that the founding principles of the United States are “racist” or “evil”, and points to countries like Iran and China as examples of true “evil”. Haley reminds viewers of her faith in God following a mass shooting at a Church in Charleston in 2015 and urges viewers to turn toward God again. Haley argues for a “secure border” and “fiscal responsibility” while denigrating the “socialist left”.

https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1625461899218280448?cxt=HHwWgICzrYe_5o4tAAAA

In the first 24 hours after the early morning announcement, users posted over 85k tweets about Nikki Haley, with a total reach of over 4 million users. Sentiment during this period was 85% negative with many pointing out the unfortunate timing of the announcement, which came the morning after a deadly shooting at Michigan State University.

However, many were quick to voice their support for Haley, including Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina since 2003.

The most popular tweet from within South Carolina during the first 24 hours after the announcement was a video of Haley from more than a decade ago discussing her position on the Confederate Flag. Many users seemed to use the video in negative contexts to show their criticism of Haley’s past positions.

Many users debated the efficacy of Haley’s choice for her video’s closing line: That when she’s kicked by bullies, she kicks back, and it hurts them worse because she’s “wearing heels”. Reaction to this line in particular was largely negative on social media with over 94% of tweets expressing negativity. 

Don Lemon, anchor for CNN, became the 3rd most trending topic on Twitter on Thursday with 23.8k mentions after sparking outrage with his claim that Nikki Haley might be too old to be president, since a woman’s “prime” is “in her 20, 30s, and maybe 40s”. Haley is 51. Social media users – especially conservatives – were quick to come to Haley’s defense and to point out misogyny in Lemon’s comment. Lemon has since walked back his comments on his own Twitter account.

We at the SMLC look forward to covering our hometown candidate as she competes for the Republican nomination. For more information on Haley’s campaign kickoff, check out The Tiger covering Haley’s formal announcement and rally event Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at the Charleston Visitor Center.

Author: Molly Riddell

Balloon Wars

February 16, 2023

Americans are still scratching their heads concerning the sudden onslaught of news about surveillance balloons, UFOs, and other confusing aerial phenomena. What began with a single balloon over Billings, Montana has grown into at least 4 balloons identified and shot down over the United States. 

The saga of the balloon wars began on the 28th of January when the United States began tracking a large balloon entering US airspace over Alaska. News of the balloon was made public on Feb. 2 when local newspapers in Billings, MT began to report sightings. 

During the first 24 hours of the Thursday Feb. 2 newsbreak, most discussion occurred on Twitter with over 621k mentions of the Chinese balloon. The platform with the second most mentions of the Chinese balloon was Reddit as users shared links to news articles announcing the situation.

The most retweeted content during the initial 24 hours was videos of the balloon itself provided by amateur photographers from across the country.

https://twitter.com/latestinspace/status/1621313445856514050?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Twitter accounts of news agencies such as BBC and CNN tweeted links to their coverage of the story, and these messages were the most widely retweeted content during the initial story break, reaching the largest number of users.

By noon on Fri. Feb. 3 the conversation had become critical, with controversial Republican authorities and prolific tweeters like MTG and Lauren Boebert using their twitter accounts to malign the Biden administration’s reaction to the balloon. MTG, with 1.9 million followers on Twitter, holds particular sway over the conversation at this point, with her meme below reaching more users than even Fox News’ tweets linking to their coverage of the story.

The Twitter conversation during the afternoon and evening hours of Friday, Feb. 3 mentioned the balloon over 1 million times, with the hashtags #china and #chinesespyballoon used with predominantly negative sentiment. CNN reports Chinese foreign officials released a statement claiming that “The airship is of civil nature and is used for scientific research such as meteorology. Affected by the westerly wind and its own control ability is limited, the airship seriously deviated from the scheduled route”. However, Twitter users in America remained skeptical. As users debated the balloon’s origins, its level of threat, and the best course of action, the words most commonly associated with the terms ‘Chinese balloon’ were spy, emasculation, weakness, and communist.

For some users on Twitter, the situation provided ample fodder for jokes and memes. Many were critical of what some saw as Biden’s relaxed stance toward a potential threat to national security, while others seemed to argue that the fear was overblown.

South Carolinians like former Governor Nikki Haley also took to Twitter to voice their opinion from our unique position on the direct flight path of the balloon.

The saga of the first balloon came to an end here in the home state when it was shot down at 2:30 pm on Saturday, Feb. 4 off the coast of Myrtle Beach. Some users from SC shared their own images of the moment the F-22 jet engaged the balloon.

While the first balloon kicked off social media buzz, the conversation continues as three more high-altitude balloons have been shot down over US airspace in the last week. Keep an eye on the blog – and on the skies – for updates on the balloon wars.

Author: Molly Riddell

Student Loan Forgiveness Rises to Supreme Court

February 4, 2023

Featured image courtesy CNBC

Since President Biden announced his Student Loan Forgiveness Plan, Americans have taken to social media to debate the legality, feasibility, and precedent of such a far-reaching executive action. Millions of borrowers stand to benefit from student debt relief, but many social media users are wary of the potential consequences of student loan forgiveness.

Biden’s student debt cancellation plan was first announced on Wed. Aug. 24, 2022. According to WhiteHouse.gov, “The Department of Education will provide up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to Pell Grant recipients with loans held by the Department of Education, and up to $10,000 in debt cancellation to non-Pell Grant recipients. Borrowers are eligible for this relief if their individual income is less than $125,000”.  Some government officials, like former President Obama, were quick to voice their support.

However, sentiment surrounding the loan cancellation conversation was 90% negative, with users casting vitriol on existing predatory student loan practices as well as the President’s forgiveness plan. Many users compared student loans to PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans provided to corporations and businesses during COVID. Many businesses had their PPP loans forgiven, and social media users were quick to point out potential hypocrisy by elected officials who benefitted from PPP forgiveness yet oppose student loan forgiveness.

Conversation about loan forgiveness also concerned itself with class issues as users worked to articulate their support or opposition depending on who they thought benefited most from the plan.

Governor Ron DeSantis’ above tweet about “gender studies” began a rhetorical thread in the discourse that some users chose to adopt and repeat, while other users responded critically.

Conversation picked up around November 11, 2022 as users speculated that the loan forgiveness plan might be a ploy to spark a blue wave during the midterm elections. However, soon after the elections, the plan was officially blocked by Republican lawmakers from Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina who filed suit against the Biden administration, arguing that the debt cancellation plan skirts congressional authority.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case on Feb. 28, 2023, and as we approach that court date social media users continue to argue about whether or not the President has the authority to enact such a wide-reaching fiscal policy. While some major political figures such as Elizabeth Warren have used the popular hashtag #CancelStudentDebt to argue that Biden has the authority through the Higher Education Act, others strongly disagree. Tweets arguing that Biden lacks authority are far less popular and gain less reach than those arguing for the legality of the plan.

As we await the Supreme Court’s decision on this vital issue, many Clemson Tigers hold their breath as up to $20,000 of debt relief hangs in the balance. While popular opinion on social media seems eager to push the plan forward, fiscal conservatives worry that the outcome might be more than we bargained for. Keep checking the SMLC blog for more updates on the issue as we approach the Supreme Court hearing. 

Author: Molly Riddell

#DocumentGate

January 31, 2023

Conversation continues this week as the nation debates #DocumentGate, the term being applied to the discovery of classified documents at the homes of former President Donald Trump and, more recently, current President Joe Biden. President Trump was the first elected official to be part of #DocumentGate when, after over a year of ignored requests for the return of missing documents, the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, where they discovered 13 boxes of documents labeled classified. VOA reports that the search of Trump’s property revealed “items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials”. Social media conversation about the discovery of Trump’s classified documents carried 98% negative sentiment as citizens expressed both disappointment at the former President’s mishandling of classified records as well as outrage at the FBI’s decision to raid his home. Certified Twitter accounts from celebrities responding to the scandal had the highest number of retweets, with most of those messages containing criticism of Trump’s actions.

In the month following the raid on Mar-a-Lago, the most common theme of the #DocumentGate conversation compared Trump to other elected officials accused of mishandling sensitive information. Users frequently used Hillary Clinton’s email scandal as a point of comparison, with accusations of hypocrisy circling around both the Department of Justice as well as Trump himself. Clinton served as a bipartisan foil on social media as her name was used by critics and supporters alike to make their case. 

More recently, however, President Joe Biden was also revealed to have stored classified documents in his home. The documents, dating from the Obama-Biden administration, were discovered on Nov. 2, 2022 by Biden’s own attorneys. The Biden team allegedly notified the National Archives that day and returned the documents the following day. CNN reports that “The classified materials included some top-secret files with the “sensitive compartmented information” designation, also known as SCI, which is used for highly sensitive information obtained from intelligence sources”. 

Social media conversation about #DocumentGate after the discovery of President Biden’s mishandling of information was as negative as the discussion after the Mar-a-Lago raid, with 95% of Tweets expressing negative sentiment. However, the social media debate after discovery of Biden’s documents was decidedly more driven by Republican defenders of the Trump administration. Republican representatives, rather than celebrities, received the most retweets as they compared the treatment of Biden to that of Trump and even to that of Hillary Clinton, arguing that Trump was treated unfairly.

Republican figureheads also speculated about larger conspiracies concerning Biden’s documents, with many working to connect the President’s mishandling of information to his son, Hunter Biden, who’s been accused of shady business deals and of allegedly concealing his own cache of classified documents.

One of the most popular media forms during #DocumentGate has been the infographic, gaining high numbers of retweets and exponential reach as major news outlets like CNN work to establish a clear narrative amidst debate about the severity of each Presidents’ wrongdoings. 

Readers ought to anticipate further discussion on #DocumentGate, since former Vice President Mike Pence has just this week been on the receiving end of more allegations of mishandling of classified information, with CNN reporting that the Department of Justice and FBI have launched investigations into Pence’s documents as well. Pence, for his part, plans to cooperate fully, although the sensitivity of the materials found in his home is not yet known. Thus, #DocumentGate continues, and we at the SMLC keep listening.

Author: Molly Riddell