Distinct information ecologies? Gender knowledge production in German digital legacy and counterpublic media

This article studies the epistemic dimension of current struggles over gender and sexual equality issues by analyzing digital media as epistemic systems transferring and producing gender knowledge. The analysis compares the representation and production of gender knowledge in German legacy and counterpublic media discourses on four dimensions related to the article-content level: media’s issue focus and their positioning toward gender issues; media’s referencing practices through hyperlinks, a unique affordance particular to digital spaces; and finally, the digital information ecologies created through these referencing practices. I conduct a quantitative content analysis and social network analysis of article content and hyperlink references in articles featuring gender issues, published in 16 German digital news outlets of legacy media and feminist, radical right, antifeminist men’s rights activist, and Christian fundamentalist counterpublic media between December 2018 and November 2019. The results show that different types of media employ different modes of gender knowledge production. Anti-egalitarian counterpublic media show a rather reactive mode of gender knowledge production, while feminist media’s mode of gender knowledge production is more autonomous. The digital information ecologies created through the references display varying levels of integration and fragmentation in relation to the mainstream public sphere, indicative of the underlying epistemic conflicts.