Justice in networked publics: How platform affordances shaped the discourse around Making a Murderer

Abstract

When the documentary series Making a Murderer was released on Netflix, people analyzed and discussed the details of the case through social media platforms. These platforms acted as networked publics where users were afforded the ability to discuss larger social issues like class and racial inequality, and the effectiveness and fairness of the criminal justice system. This thesis explores how networked publics are established by the affordances of specific social media platforms in relation to discussions about criminal justice that were performed as part of the reception of Making a Murderer. Specifically, I use critical technocultural discourse analysis to examine how Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Tumblr acted as facilitators of networked public spaces for the circulation of specific discourses about criminal justice. I argue that studying multiple platforms is an appropriate approach to understand how the series’ reception constituted a networked public that opened up public discourse about criminal justice issues beyond the scope of the series