Digital narratives and the performative power of news in the era of false information: an ethnography of journalism in Northern Ireland

This thesis explores how false information disrupts journalistic practice and authority in a complex and contested media landscape. It argues that while false information is often framed as an external threat, it also functions as a structural and institutional constraint on journalistic autonomy.

Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach, the study combines ethnography with natural language processing and discourse analysis to examine how ‘truth’ is constructed and performed in the arena of news. It engages with theories of performativity and performance to analyse how journalists both counter and reproduce the discursive practices through which false information spreads. Focusing on Northern Ireland as a post-conflict society with a polarised political landscape, the research investigates how local journalists navigate competing truth claims, institutional pressures and shifting perceptions of media legitimacy.